The Supreme Court’s ban on plying of diesel and petrol driven taxis in Delhi took effect on Sunday, with three taxi owners warning this might lead to suicides in frustration.
Cab operators termed the apex court’s decision tyrannical, saying if the decision was not changed then it will lead many of them to commit suicide. Over 27,000 taxis run on diesel alone in Delhi.
The cab operators told IANS that they had decided to launch a protest after mutual consultations. They claimed that almost half the taxis were run on diesel in the national capital. “
I have cancelled 17 bookings since morning as most of my taxis are run on diesel. I have only five taxis run by CNG. We do not understand why the court and Government come up with such decisions?S. Kumar, owner - Kumar Taxi Services
He said the apex court decision of Saturday will lead many taxi operators to commit suicide as they won’t be able to pay their car instalments now.
How do we pay our monthly instalments to banks for the loans taken to buy taxis? Does the government not realise that diesel cars can’t be converted into CNG?
The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to give more time to taxi operators to switch to the cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG). The deadline for the change, which had been extended twice, was Saturday.
According to the Delhi transport department, about 60,000 taxis are registered in the city. Of them, 27,000 run on diesel.
However, the ban on diesel cab will not of any help unless the regulations put in place are strong enough to condemn the defaulters from here on, as per Sunita Narain, an environmental activist.
The problem is that there has been a loophole which is been exploited over the last 15 years by diesel taxi owners who have registered their taxis under the All India Tourist Permit (AITP). Now the AITP is only allowed for taxis which are registered with Tourism Department and used for Tourism and that we accept will require travel outside the NCR region as well. But there is total misuse of that. AITP vehicles were being misused to provide taxi services within the NCR when they are disallowed them from undertaking point-to-point travelSunita Narain, Environmental Activist
In addition to private taxi owners, it is believed that the court ruling will also affect cab aggregators Ola and Uber among others. “The decision is not applicable to taxis with All India Tourist Permit. This is going to be a setback for Ola and Uber who have a large number of taxis run on diesel,” Raman of Kamal Taxi Service.
This is the second blow to Uber and Ola in Delhi. The Delhi government has declared that it will not let them charge “surge pricing”.
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