Now trucks can enter Delhi only after midnight, orders L-G Jung

In a bid to bring down pollution levels, lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung has shifted the entry time of trucks into the city from 10pm to 12 midnight till January 31 next year.

In a bid to bring down pollution levels, lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung has shifted the entry time of trucks into the city from 10pm to 12 midnight till January 31 next year.

Harsh Vardhan, Union minister for science and technology, with Delhi L-G Najeeb Jung during the ceremonial welcome of the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

Reviewing measures taken by each government agency to curb air pollution on Tuesday, Jung said thousands of trucks enter the city’s borders every night, adding to the toxic smog.

“To control their numbers, the window of time allotted to these trucks will be shortened,” he said.

In the meeting, the L-G ordered the Delhi government’s transport department and Delhi Traffic Police to continue the crackdown against overloaded and non-destined commercial vehicles entering the city.

“Over 2600 non-destined vehicles have been turned away since the order was passed against their entry on November 7. Apart from this, 3,033 visibly polluting vehicles and vehicles not carrying pollution under control (PUC) certificates were also challaned,” the report submitted in the meeting read.

The transport department issued 390 fines to vehicles for not carrying PUC certificates, 1795 for visibly polluting, and 164 vehicles for overloading.

The LG took stock of the ban on the 15-year-old diesel vehicles. Transport department officials said a notification regarding the deregistration of these vehicles had been issued and 763 vehicles had been deregistered.

The officials said that 1,795 fines had been issued.

To keep the momentum of the drive, the L-G ordered the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to give their empty parks and pits to Delhi Traffic Police to temporarily park the impounded vehicles.

In the meeting, Jung lifted the week-long ban on construction and demolition activities in the city. The ban was issued on November 7, after the pollution levels in the city reached alarming levels.

Over Rs 1.5 crore was collected as fine by all the agencies from violators. Of this, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) collected Rs 85 lakh, the revenue department collected Rs 42.9 lakh, and the north and east Delhi municipal corporations collected Rs 11.5 lakh and Rs 30 lakh as fine.

Delhi Traffic Police registered 29 cases against violators and stopped construction activities in 539 sites were stopped.