The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the lifting of the ban on registration of diesel cars above 2000cc in Delhi-NCR region. It has stipulated for an additional one percent tax to be levied as green cess on the ex-showroom price of these vehicles.
Cars above 2000cc and SUVs will only be registered once the green tax has been paid and will likely be taken on by vehicle owners.
However, there is no clarity on the future of smaller cars. The apex court has said that it will decide later whether smaller diesel cars will also come under the law.
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The apex court has also asked the Central Pollution Control Board to open an account in a public sector bank to receive the environment tax from big diesel car and SUV makers.
Back in December 2015, Supreme Court had banned registration of new vehicles in the Delhi-NCR region.
Air pollution in India has reached critical levels. Every year, 1.4 million people die due to air pollution, experts say.
But in Delhi, vehicles aren’t the primary source of air pollution. A study from IIT Kanpur found that coal, fly ash, soil, road dust and biomass burning all cause more pollution than car fumes.
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Still, fumes from cars can hold more toxins than road dust. And traffic contributes to 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating climate change and erratic weather patterns.
Green taxes would attempt to discourage people from buying some of the most polluting cars and opt instead for CNG-fuelled vehicles or hybrids. But they won’t get rid of the cars completely.
(With agency inputs and reporting from Manon Verchot.)
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