CM puts diesel-run vehicles on CNG notice

The Delhi government will bring in a new policy to convert diesel-fuelled commercial vehicles into CNG-fuelled, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said on Tuesday.

The Delhi government will bring in a new policy to convert diesel-fuelled commercial vehicles into CNG-fuelled, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said on Tuesday.

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CNG is short for Compressed Natural Gas, which is a cleaner fuel.

Dikshit’s remark at a seminar highlights the government’s concern over rising air pollution from other sources, threatening to defeat the purpose of introducing a CNG-propelled public transport in the Capital.

Over 40,000 diesel-run vehicles ply the Capital’s roads, mainly tempos used for ferrying goods within the city.

There is, however, no blueprint as yet on the proposed policy to convert the diesel vehicles into CNG. Officials say the details of the policy would be worked out after consulting the owners and association of such vehicles.

Rajender Soni of the Bharatiya Private Transport Mazdoor Mahasangh said such a decision was “self-defeating and devoid of any logic”.

He said most of such vehicles have permits to ply all over the country and, therefore, it was unfair to make them run only on CNG. “CNG is available only in Delhi. If the vehicle goes to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab or other states, from where will it get CNG?” Soni asked.

To this, transport department officials said “all legal aspects would be taken into consideration before taking a final view on the subject”.

Meanwhile, a concerned government decided to entrust the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, to find out the reasons for smog in Delhi. For the last few days, Delhi has been engulfed in smog and experts believe this could be due to increasing pollution. The Delhi government’s Environment Department would get the report on smog in a year.