Submit alternative routes for trucks in two days, NGT orders Delhi Police
NEW DELHI: National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday directed Delhi Police to submit within the next two days its plans to create alternative routes for heavy polluting vehicles.
Since the eastern and western peripheral expressways will take another two to three years to be completed, trucks destined for Delhi could use these routes, which will help cut emissions from diesel vehicles in the city.
Recently, NGT had slammed police for submitting an “outdated” traffic plan to ease congestion in the city. It had directed the cops to hold consultations with senior officers from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to suggest interim measures to counter the bottlenecks on the alternative routes.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government submitted that 13 out of 127 entry points to Delhi receive 83% of the vehicle load. Of this, seven are manned by the Delhi transport department. “We have submitted that we are short-staffed and lack infrastructure to man so many entry points,” said Narender Pal Singh, lawyer representing the Delhi government.
He submitted that the seven entry points manned by the Delhi government cater to 75% of the traffic entering the city. NGT has appointed court commissioners, who will find out whether the pollution from vehicles entering through the seven points are being monitored properly and if action is being taken against overloaded vehicles.
The bench headed by NGT chairperson, Justice Swatanter Kumar, also directed the ministry of environment and forests and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to examine whether the parameters for issuing PUC certificates can be modified. As of now, only opacity of smoke or the Hartridge Smoke Unit (HSU) tests and CO2 emissions are being measured but not pollutants such as PM 2.5, ozone, oxides of nitrogen (NO2) and others. It also directed authorities to take a final view on whether emissions from an overloaded vehicle can be measured while they are mobile.
Meanwhile, NGT has banned use of hot-mixing plants in NCR. “Any state government, government instrumentality, local authorities or any person is hereby prohibited from using hot mix plants in any part of NCR,” the bench said. It directed Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), CPCB and MoEF to seal such equipment. Delhi Police has been directed to provide support while carrying out the sealing drive.
MoEF had filed an affidavit recently with NGT highlighting how NHAI, PWD and DMRC were flouting the tribunal’s orders at their project sites by using hot-mix plants, which caused dust pollution and traffic chaos. Last year, the tribunal had directed that no hot-mixing plant would be used on the roadside “during construction and maintenance of roads…”
NGT also slammed Delhi Metro for creating chaos on the roads leading to vehicular emissions. “Every station of yours is muck. See the mess DMRC has created from Munirka to Vasant Kunj while laying underground cables,” the bench said.
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