Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) today submitted a status report before the apex court on implementation of its directions to curb rising air pollution in the national capital.
Stressing strict enforcement of Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) on Delhi-bound truck, EPCA said in many cases, actions of the authorities were "lax" and not in tune with the required urgency as the Delhi government had "severe" staff limitations to divert trucks not destined to Delhi.
"The diversion of vehicles was strictly done over the winter months in 2015-16. It is noted that state government have severe staff limitations to keep up the active diversion of vehicles. However, the bill boards have been installed at key points and it is clear that if ECC at Delhi entry points is strictly enforced, then the number of non-destined vehicles will go down.
"Between January 21 to April 25, Haryana had set up 13 check posts and this has resulted in diversion of a total of 6,00,880 vehicles. Uttar Pradesh has also taken steps to set up check posts and also install billboards about the diversion of traffic not bound for Delhi," EPCA said.
EPCA told the court that as of October 28, over Rs 440 crore has been collected under ECC and Transport Department of Delhi government has already transferred Rs 93 lakh to South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).
"The transport department is also in the process of sanctioning Rs 120 crore over 5 years to SDMC for RFID installation at the 13 entry points into Delhi. The Delhi government has not submitted any further plans for utilisation of ECC," it said.
It said while the number of vehicles diverted till April 11, was only 3,278, representatives of the state government have said that information about diversion and cost of entry to Delhi has resulted in fewer vehicles on the road for diversion.
Stressing the need of alternative bypass, EPCA has highlighted critically sub-standard conditions of certain key roads needed to bypass Delhi and said the progress was not satisfactory.
On the issue of installation of weigh-in-motion bridges at all entry points, it told the court that 35 of the 60 bridges are already under operation and the remaining 25 will be commissioned by November 15 which are being installed at NH-2 Badarpur Elevated Highway and NH-10 Delhi-Rohtak road.
EPCA has said there needs to be strict enforcement of the entry of trucks and, as per the apex court directions, only commercial vehicles registered after 2005 that are destined for Delhi and that pay Environmental Compensation Charge (ECC) must be allowed entry.
It further said that between May 10 and October 4, the registration of diesel All-India Tourist Permit (AITP) taxis in Delhi stood at 74.
"This is in comparison to 11,065 diesel AITP registrations in 2015. There is a clear shift towards CNG/ petrol taxis. Between May 10 to October 4, over 90 per cent of all taxis registered were on CNG, as compared to less than 45 per cent prior to the order," it said.
The apex court appointed body said that Ministry of Petroleum had informed it that as of August 19, 97 of the 104 new stations to be commissioned have commenced commercial operations as on June 30. This takes the total number of operating CNG stations in NCR to 444, compared to 347 prior to December 16 last year.
EPCA has also recommended ensuring land for parking of DTC buses for augmentation of bus fleet in NCT to 10,000 as it has assessed that the Delhi government is in possession of 68 acres of land which can park 1600 buses.
In addition, DTC also has surplus land capable of accommodating 500 buses. In this way, there is depot land currently with the Delhi government which can park up to 2000 additional buses, it said while stressing the need to augment the metro network by December.
"It was at 68.65 per cent completion at the time of the meeting. In addition, it has submitted to EPCA a schedule of addition of 420 coaches for existing lines of Phase I and II, starting February 2016 through February 2018 and 486 coaches for Phase III, starting December 2016 through August 2018," EPCA said.
The decision on phasing out of old government diesel vehicles was still unknown as Solicitor General's response is awaited, it said.
With regard to advancing BS-VI fuel and vehicle technology, it said that Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has finalised and notified BS-VI standards on September 16, 2016.
