Govt prepares short-term plan to tackle pollution

New Delhi, November 15

Under attack from the Opposition for not spending a single penny in 2017 out of the Rs 787 crore collected as environment cess, the Delhi Government on Wednesday said it has prepared a one-year short-term plan to tackle air pollution, an official said.

A government official said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting with senior officials on Tuesday evening and directed that the environmental cess and environmental ambient air fund be used for procurement of buses.

Earlier, the official said Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot also met DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd) officials over the issue.

Revealing the government's plans, he said: "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has prepared a one-year short-term plan, under which it proposes to procure 500 electric buses within one year."

He said the government was planning to procure buses of two different sizes -- Standard and Medium.

According to him, a standard size bus costs Rs 2.6 crore while the medium size bus comes for Rs 1.6 crore.

Defending his government, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj in a series of tweets said: "Delhi government has never said we do not have money to tackle pollution. We have instead said we have budget to buy buses, but no space to park."

Chaotic situation at border points

Long queues of commercial vehicles were witnessed today at various border points of Delhi leading to a chaotic situation, a day after the ban on the entry of trucks in the national Capital was extended, officials said.

Several entry points, including the Delhi-Noida-Delhi (DND) and the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plazas, were choked as vehicles queued up, a Transport Department official said.

"An estimated one lakh commercial vehicles pass through Delhi border per day. After the ban was invoked again yesterday, winding queues of trucks were witnessed at many of the border points," the official said.

"At Singhu Border in Narela, the queue of vehicles went all the way up to Panipat. The situation is chaotic," the official added.

Comments from the Noida Toll Bridge Co Ltd (NTBCL), which maintains the DND Flyway, were not immediately available.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) collects toll tax and Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) from vehicles at these border points.

"There are several toll collection points across the city. And, we are collecting ECC from the vehicles entering Delhi. Vehicles are piling up after the extension of the ban," he said. (Agencies)