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Car chaos continues in Delhi; SC directives may be extended gradually to rest of India

Veeresh Malik in New Delhi

The Supreme Court directives on car emissions and Euro norms in Delhi and the NCR are likely to be made applicable to the rest of the country. "To begin with, they might be made mandatory where unleaded petrol is available," an official at the ministry of environment and forests has hinted. After Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras will have to comply with the SC directives, it is learnt.

Cars that do not belong to Delhi, sporting "temporary" number-plates, are becoming a familiar sight in the national capital. This confounds the confusion generated by Delhi's transport department over the implementation of the Supreme Court directives.

Registration of new cars is still not on in Delhi, which accounts for about 20 per cent of the total Indian car market.

The all-important "file" containing the notification allowing registration of new cars, moved from the law department to the transport commissioner, then to the transport minister and back again to the commissioner by May 20.

Almost all car manufacturers have claimed Euro-I / India 2000 compliance on the basis of self-certification. This, however, was not of much help as the Union transport ministry and the Delhi government's transport department have desisted from initiating any action toward fresh registrations.

The Supreme Court has laid down that only 1,250 petrol-powered and 250 diesel-fuelled vehicles can be registered in Delhi and the NCR per month. How to select the specified number of cars for registration? That is the question puzzling the government.

The Delhi government has taken a stand that 922 new cars -- which do not necessarily meet Euro-I / India-2000 / Euro-II norms -- may be registered in May 1999.

Maruti alone has about 11,000 fully paid-up pending bookings in Delhi. In the process, cars which satisfy Euro-I / Euro-II norms are also still not being registered!

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