Petrol, diesel-run cabs banned from Delhi-NCR roads from today

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Around 27,000 cabs ferrying commuters across Delhi-NCR go off road from Sunday. The Supreme  Court on Saturday had banned petrol, diesel-run cabs from Delhi National Capital Region, starting May 1. 

As per the Delhi Transport Department, about 60,000 taxis are registered in the NCR, out of which 27,000 are running on diesel. It is reported that almost 2,000 diesel-run taxis converted into CNG mode in the last two months.

The enforcement wing of the Transport Department will keep a vigil on petrol, diesel-run cabs running on locals routes in Delhi today. Taxis with all-India permits, who are exempt from conversion to CNG, will be verified by making spot-checks of the kilometres run by them.

Thousands of commuters are likely to be affected as many use taxis, including the diesel-run ones, to commute in and around Delhi – including Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad.

The Supreme Court refused to extend the deadline of April 30 for phasing out diesel cabs in NCR, saying that it has allowed enough extensions in the past.

Earlier the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on plying diesel cabs in Delhi from April 1, but later extended the deadline by a month for private cab aggregators to switch to CNG vehicles.

The Court said that all radio, app-based cabs must  switch to LNG by May 1. It also asked  Delhi Police to pay 30% environmental compensation charge to buy special diesel vehicles over 200 cc, however, gave Delhi Jal Board exemption from environment cess on its water tankers.

Reportedly, cabs plying with an India permit will be exempted from the order to convert to LNG.