SC to hear plea on diesel cars in Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) The Supreme Court is likely to take up for hearing Monday a report by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority recommending curbing the use of personal diesel vehicles in the national capital.

The apex court forest bench of Justice Aftab Alam, Justice K. Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar Friday said the bench would take up for hearing the petition and the report after counsel for the Central Pollution Control Board, Vijay Panjwani, mentioned the matter before the bench.

“In view of the serious health challenge that diesel cars present, EPCA has repeatedly drawn the attention of the apex court to the need for curbing this problem,” says the report, submitted to the apex court way back in 2007.

The report said the restrictions on the use of diesel cars in Delhi should also be applied to the vehicles entering the city from neighbouring states as otherwise the influx of these vehicles into the city will continue to grow and that would negate the gains of pollution control measures.

The report said that EPCA had stated that only ‘clean’ diesel technology that runs on diesel fuel with sulphur content less than 10 ppm and vehicles fitted with advanced emission control devices like particulate traps should be allowed in the city.

The 2007 report says: “But six years later, this has not been implemented and industry has continued to produce intermediate technologies with serious public health consequences.”

The steps that were taken in last few years to combat air pollution in Delhi have helped to “stabilize particulates and substantially lower sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide levels in Delhi’s air,” the report says.

In a cautionary note, the report said that “uncontrolled dieselisation can undo these these gains and also have an adverse public health effect”.

IANS 2012-11-23 21:20:16