A senior Delhi government official said about 60,000 taxis are registered in Delhi and of them 21,000 run on diesel.
It is the end of the road for diesel taxis, including those run by aggregators like OLA and UBER, in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) as the Supreme Court on Saturday refused to extend the April 30 deadline fixed for their conversion into less-polluting CNG mode.
"We can't keep on extending the time. We are not extending it now and not going to make any exceptions. There is technology available, you convert," a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said while rejecting the plea that it would affect livelihood of poor drivers as there is no technology available for conversion of diesel vehicles into CNG ones.
The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, had on March 31, extended the deadline till April 30 for conversion of all diesel taxis to CNG.
A senior Delhi government official said about 60,000 taxis are registered in Delhi and of them 21,000 run on diesel.
The ban on registration of diesel-run SUVs and high-end cars with engine capacity of 2000 cc and above in Delhi and NCR will continue as the Supreme Court did not modify its earlier order which said the bar would remain in effect till further orders.
The court wondered why the Arvind Kejriwal-led government's much-hyped Odd-Even scheme has not been able to reduce pollution level in the capital and asked why steps taken to achieve ambient air quality standards were not working.
Coming down on the Union government for its inaction to check the pollution, the court said "You people are just sipping coffee and doing nothing," the Supreme Court observed while rapping the government for not coming forward with some solutions to reduce pollution levels due to vehicular emissions, saying "it is the matter of life".
"What are the people doing in the ministry? Why can't they come up with some research and solutions? Why can't you research what is happening in rest of the world? You people are just sipping coffee and doing nothing. Courts are being forced to go into all these kind of matters," a bench said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "taxis")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}