Delhi govt. to seek CNG deadline extension

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28.

In an interesting development, the Delhi Government is expected to file a petition before the Supreme Court seeking extension of the deadline for bus operators to book environment-friendly CNG buses beyond March 31. The Government is likely to ask for at least a month's extension.

Faced with protests from private bus operators and contract carriage bus operators as well as the school managements, the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms.Sheila Dikshit, today called a high- level meeting to review the situation. The meeting was also attended by the Transport Minister, Mr. Parvez Hashmi, the Chief Secretary, Mr. P.S. Bhatnagar, the Transport Secretary, Mr. Ashok Pradhan and the DTC Chairman, Mr. Rakesh Mehta.

The review meeting by was held in the backdrop of representations by various transport union representatives who met Mr. Hashmi during the day and asked him to take up their problem with the court. They urged the Government to file a petition seeking extension of deadline for getting CNG buses booked with the manufacturers and conversion companies. The court order, which came on March 26, had left little time for the transporters to book the buses as they had to arrange the money and other resources.

It is understood that Mr. Hashmi and Mr. Pradhan along with Mr. Mehta apprised the Chief Minister of the fallout of the Supreme Court order. It was felt that the situation will not improve even after the six month extension as only little less than a week had been given by the court to the various bus operators to book their buses with the conversion companies and CNG bus manufacturers. Not only this, it was also pointed out that a large number of schools had closed down after the examination and would re-open only in the first week of April. Therefore,it would not be possible for the school managements to take a decision and mobilise the necessary resources for booking CNG buses.

It was also pointed out that the conversion of CNG buses was being done only by a single company which would create problems regarding delivery schedules. The officials stated the Government could approach the court with these issues and seek an extension of the deadline by at least one month. The Supreme Court in its order on March 26 had stated clearly that only those operators who book their CNG buses before March 31 would be allowed to ply the diesel buses till September 30.

The officials also pointed out that hardly a few thousand buses would be on the roads if the order is implemented in letter and spirit as many private operators were still to decide on whether to book the CNG buses or not. Orders for around 1,000 new CNG buses have been placed by the private manufacturers and another 1,500 buses are learnt to have been booked for conversion. But judging by the pace of delivery of the two bus manufacturers and that of conversion, the deliveries are unlikely to materialise before the end of the year.

At this juncture, the Chief Minister intervened and asked the officials to prepare details about how to go about implementing the orders. She also directed them to prepare grounds to file a petition before the Supreme Court for extension of the deadline. The matter is likely to come up before the Cabinet shortly.

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