Credit for CNG buses doesn't go to Delhi Govt: Ramesh

Delhi Government may be taking credit for introducing CNG buses in the national capital but Union Environment Minister Jairarm Ramesh feels otherwise.

Delhi Government may be taking credit for introducing CNG buses in the national capital but Union Environment Minister Jairarm Ramesh feels otherwise.

HT Image

"The CNG buses, the largest fleet in the world, are running on Delhi roads not through an executive (Delhi Government) order. In fact, the executive was working hard not to do it, but it was the judiciary which forced the executive to do it," Ramesh said in the capital recently.

On the orders of the Supreme Court a few years back the state government had agreed to introduce the green fuel based public transport in the city, which Ramesh said should be talked about at the global forum on climate change.

The Union Minister attributed judicial activism to lack of environmental governance, which, he said, in fact has been swept under the carpet.

"There is complete lack of institutional capacity at the Centre for implementation of two important legislations -- Environment Protection Act (EPA) and Forest Conservation Act (FCA) -- as a result of which they are not being implemented at the state level. This has created a vacuum which is being filled by the judiciary," he said.

Hoping that the National Environment Protection Authority is set up soon, he said it would serve as a bridge between the Centre and the States for implementation of environment laws.