Green court glare on polluting DTC buses
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Transport Corporation has come under fire from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for having failed to submit a compliance report on inspection of its buses by a team of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) officials.
“Show us one bus that has been inspected pursuant to our directions. Provide us at least one report complying with our order. Who checks these buses? If the bumper of a DTC bus is loose, it remains so for months. Let us not deceive ourselves. Even CNG emissions have to be within permissible limits,” a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
The tribunal’s observation came while hearing a petition of Vardhaman Kaushik, who had contended that the level of particulates in Delhi was rising and the reasons for the same should be identified and curbed. The tribunal had earlier directed that all the DTC buses, even if operating on CNG, should be checked by the team constituted by the CPCB and DPCC.
“If a bus is found to be emitting in excess of the prescribed standards, it should not be permitted to ply. The managing director of DTC shall be personally responsible for ensuring compliance to the prescribed emission standards by all the transport corporation vehicles,” the tribunal had said in its November 26, 2014 order.
Advocate Avnish Ahlawat, appearing for DTC, claimed before the tribunal that an inspection had been carried out and all its buses had been found to be in a fit condition.
However, the bench remained unsatisfied and asked the DTC counsel to submit a report as per its earlier directions.
Earlier, in a report submitted the joint commissioner of transport had stated that 186 DTC buses were found without valid pollution under control certificate on December 28, 2014.