States get 3 weeks on diesel data

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday said there was no plan yet to extend the ban on diesel vehicles — in force in Delhi and Kerala — to other cities

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday said there was no plan yet to extend the ban on diesel vehicles — in force in Delhi and Kerala — to other cities of the country.

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The tribunal gave states such as Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh three weeks to submit information about their most polluted cities and the number of diesel and petrol vehicles plying. The tribunal bench said it will take any decision only after it received the data.

“We are not banning any vehicles. We have asked state governments to submit a report on the pollution levels in various cities. Let that data come and then we will hear different parties and decide accordingly,” a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

Additional solicitor general Pinky Anand, appearing for ministry of heavy industries, asked the bench not to extend to other cities the ban on the registration of vehicles beyond 2000 cc.

She said that about 8% FDI under “Make in India” has come from the automobile industry and the sector generates employment opportunities. Any restriction on it, she added, will have an adverse effect on the momentum of its growth.

AM Singhvi, appearing for Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures, opposed the idea of extending diesel ban to other metros and said diesel was not the only source of pollution.

“That is why we want every state to react. Let that data come to us and then we will hear the matter in detail,” the bench said.