Delhi govt steps up ‘polluter pays’ principle, imposes congestion tax on incoming trucks

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has lauded the Delhi government budget that has prioritised public transport augmentation and initiative to curb pollution. CSE, however, has demanded the government to discontinue the practice of one-time parking charges and introduce high and variable rates for parking across the city to discourage car use and increase revenues from parking.  

“The government has also taken a step forward to apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle and impose a congestion tax on incoming trucks — the revenue will be used to augment the city’s public transport system,” said CSE executive director Anumita Roychowdhury, who also heads its air pollution control campaign. “This is a <g data-gr-id="21">much needed</g> move at a time when Delhi is gasping for breath and the daily travel trips are expected to explode to 25.3 million trips a day,” she added. It’s important to mention that Delhi Dialogue Commission had organised workshops on transport to discuss public transport and measures to curb vehicular pollution in Delhi, with various NGOs.  

“I want the upper class and rich to quit their cars and travel in buses like they are doing in metros. The new fleet of buses will be of ordinary, air conditioned, luxury and super-luxury categories,” said Manish Sisodia while presenting his budget on Thursday. The total proposed expenditure in the transport sector in 2015-16 is Rs 5,085 crore, which is 23 per cent more than 2014-15. The government has proposed to procure about 1,380 semi-low floor buses, 500 midi-buses under DTC and around 1,000 more buses under the cluster scheme by the end of 2016. 

It has further proposed to bring 10,000 buses of different specifications, to meet the differentiated needs of commuters. 

It has also proposed to sort out the tangle over depot land for buses – something which has been holding up bus purchases in the city.