In a bid to keep check on increasing air pollution level, commercial vehicles entering Delhi will have to pay pollution tax from July 1. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his first Budget on Thursday announced levy on commercial diesel vehicles entering in the national Capital. As per announcement, light commercial vehicle will have to pay Rs 100. The four-wheel truck will have to pay Rs 500 while six-wheel truck will have to pay Rs 750 per entry. The 10-wheel truck will have to pay Rs 1,000 and 16-wheel truck will have to pay Rs 1,500. The public transport buses and taxies from other States have been exempted from pollution tax. According to the civic agency, on an average, more than 22 lakh commercial vehicles enter Delhi every day, causing air pollution in the city.
“The Delhi Government stands committed to ensuring clean air not only for the present generation but also for future generations. We will substantially augment availability of public transport running on clean fuel. However, the alarming level of air pollution is a cause of concern for all of us. All of us are aware that a large number of heavy goods diesel vehicles, enter Delhi and cause of air pollution,” said Sisodia during his Budget Speech. “The Delhi Government intend to use this fund to augment environment-friendly public transport system, installation of weigh-in-motion bridges, and for other initiatives to improve ambient air quality in Delhi,” said Sisodia adding that public transport buses and taxies will not be imposed any congestion fee.
In 1999, CNG vehicles were introduced after a Supreme Court ruling which had some positive effects during the 2000s. But today, despite over 0.7 million CNG vehicles running on Delhi NCR’s roads, all gains have been nullified by the soaring number of private vehicles. Over 8.1 million vehicles are currently registered in Delhi out of which 6 million are private, including 2.5 million four-wheelers.
The worst has been the explosion in diesel (which is a class 1 carcinogen) vehicles. Ever since petrol price deregulation in 2011, diesel vehicle sales have skyrocketed in cities like Delhi. Secondly, commercial vehicles, around 2.5 million of them, many of them not meant for Delhi pass through Delhi’s borders every month including tens of thousands of trucks.
In the case of vehicles from outside Delhi, the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), a body created by an order of the Supreme Court, stated that a 2001 Supreme Court ban on all inter-State vehicles not meant for Delhi from passing through the city has not been implemented by the transport corporations, Delhi Police or the transport department.