Protesting cab drivers blocked major highways including the Delhi-Noida expressway causing heavy traffic jams in many parts of the city. (AFP Photo)
Highlights
- Only CNG cabs in Delhi, ruled top court, banning diesel and petrol cabs
- Protesting cab drivers have blocked major highways causing traffic jams
- Delhi government to present detailed plan on phasing out diesel taxis
As protests by taxi owners crippled traffic in Delhi for the second straight day, the state government has asked the Supreme Court for two more days to submit a detailed plan on how to phase out diesel cabs from the city. A Supreme Court order has pulled 30,000 cabs off the road because they run on diesel or petrol and not greener compressed natural gas (CNG).
"We are fully committed to tackling pollution in the capital but a crisis has arisen," the state government told the court during a hearing on its request seeking implementation of the ban on diesel cabs in a phased manner.
"We also don't intend to cause a human problem, but whenever these steps are taken, it does lead to some initial inconvenience," Chief Justice TS Thakur said. The top court had given the government time till 4 pm today to come up with a detailed and workable plan on phasing out diesel cabs and converting them to CNG.
The Delhi-Noida expressway was blocked by the protestors in the morning till police intervened and cleared the traffic.
The Delhi government's request was necessitated by protests by angry cab drivers who blocked major highways including the DND expressway today, bringing peak-hour traffic to a standstill for hours.
On Saturday, the Supreme Court had, in a special hearing, refused to extend the April 30 deadline it had set for taxis to switch from diesel and petrol to CNG.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari yesterday said that the government will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider the ban on diesel cabs.
A 2014 World Health Organisation survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked Delhi as the most polluted, partly because of the nearly 10 million vehicles on its roads. The Supreme Court has been pressuring authorities to reduce dangerous levels of haze and dust that choke the city, with a string of orders last year including a ban on new, large diesel cars, mainly SUVs.