Delhi govt asks Centre to ban entry of old diesel vehicles

With pollution levels rising, it is important for states around Delhi to also take stringent steps: Rai

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Saturday wrote to the Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav asking the Centre to ban the entry of “polluting vehicles” to all parts of National Capital Region (NCR) in the wake of the rising pollution levels. He also asked Yadav to convene a meeting with the environment ministers of the neighbouring states.

Gopal Rai sent the letter after his late-night visit to the Anand Vihar ISBT on Friday. (HT Archive)

Rai sent the letter after his late-night visit to the Anand Vihar ISBT on Friday.

Following orders by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) Phase 2, entry of non BS6 compliant buses was banned in Delhi-NCR since Wednesday. However, the environment minister visited Anand Vihar ISBT, one of the most prominent pollution hot spots of the city, around 11pm on Friday and found “polluting” buses from other states coming in despite the ban.

“I visited Anand Vihar hot spot... and was surprised to see that BS3 and BS4 diesel buses are still plying on roads and are entering Delhi from neighbouring states. Similar reports are being received from other entry points of Delhi as well,” said Rai.

He added that with the pollution levels rising, it is important for states around Delhi to also take stringent steps.

Anand Vihar that has been in the “severe” category for five consecutive days since October 31, reported AQI of 473 at 4pm on Saturday. Anand Vihar sees a large volume of heavy vehicles that cause road dust.