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Delhi govt to ban registration of private diesel vehicles

The Delhi government is planning a legislation to ban registration of all diesel private vehicles in the capital, Delhi's transport minister Parvez Hashmi said today.

Besides, it is also planning to extend by two years the deadline for converting all taxis and Delhi Transport Corporation or DTC buses in the capital to compressed natural gas or CNG-driven vehicles, Hashmi said.

"We will be bringing a legislation in the cabinet banning fresh registration of all diesel vehicles, both commercial and private.

"Besides, the conversion of petrol vehicles to diesel would also be stopped. We want to reduce the presence of diesel vehicles in the capital," the minister added.

This, he said, is part of the government's drive to curb the growing pollution menace in the capital.

Agreeing that the government would miss the April 1, 2000, deadline of converting all DTC buses to CNG, the minister said, ''We are seeking to extend the deadline by two years. We will be communicating this to the Supreme Court and would be citing the inadequacy of CNG filling stations and kits to be the prime reasons behind the delay.'' The new deadline is now being set at April 1, 2002.

Steps are also being taken to control vehicular pollution by registering only 4-stroke two-wheelers and phasing out 15-year-old taxis and auto-rickshaws.

Earlier, while inaugurating the dial-a-cab facility here, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the government was working towards conversion of all diesel taxis to CNG. The capital would have 82 CNG filling stations shortly. ''With this infrastructure in place, the move from diesel to CNG would be very smooth.''

Dikshit had earlier said, ''We are facing problems as there is a great inadequacy of the CNG gas and CNG buses. We had placed an order for 100 buses but got only ten, of which three have already collapsed. The rest are being run on a trial basis.''

Refusing to divulge more information on this, she said, ''We will be presenting our case before the court."

The Delhi information technology policy would be announced in the coming Delhi assembly session beginning March 22, Dikshit said.

''We are dreaming of making Delhi the top cyber-state of the country in the next three years. We are not planning to get information technology alone to the state, but our vision is to see that all Delhi citizens can access and make use of the benefits of it,'' she added.

Maruti Udyog Limited has supplied 500 units of CNG Esteem for the dial-a-cab radio taxi facility.

In Delhi, this new round-the-clock radio taxi service will be available by dialing the telephone number 1920. It will provide commuters with an air-conditioned Maruti Esteem car that has a mobile phone and first-aid facility.

Complete coverage of the row over auto emissions and Euro norms

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