“Delhi has already experienced rapid increase in pollution this winter – PM2.5 levels have remained three to four times the standards and on smoggy days, the level can go up to six to seven times the standards,” Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said on Wednesday.

CSE welcomed Supreme Court judgement that has stopped registration of all luxury diesel cars and SUVs with engine size of 2,000 cc in NCR until March 2016; doubled environment compensation charge on all trucks entering Delhi; barred entry of pre-2005 trucks; and mandated all taxis in the NCR to run on CNG.

“The Chief Justice Bench has taken strong notice of the evidences of health impacts which indicate that the lung of every third child is impaired,” Narain added.

By barring the luxury diesel segment, the Court has established a critical principle that diesel taxed low for poor farmers and freight cannot by misutilised by the rich car owners for luxury consumption and add to pollution, the organisation said in a statement.

Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE’s executive director-research and advocacy and head of its sustainable urbanization and air pollution control team, said, “Dieselisation adds to the burden of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and ozone -- the key pollutants of concern in the city. The current emissions standards in India legally allow diesel cars to emit more particulate matter and nitrogen oxides – which are the most serious pollutants of concern in our city’s air – than petrol cars.”

The Chief Justice Bench has also scheduled hearing for longer term solutions including leapfrogging emissions standards for vehicles to Euro VI while introducing the current emission standards in Delhi nation-wide immediately; action on power plants; and public transport strategy for Delhi and NCR, the statement added.

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