To curb pollution in the Capital, the Delhi government has imposed a ban on the entry of commercial goods vehicles that do not comply with at least the BS-IV standards from Saturday. But when NDTV went on the ground after midnight to check how seriously this rule was being implemented, we found the enforcement was mixed, at best.
Ghazipur Border
The NDTV crew reached the Ghazipur border, which is one of the main entry points into Delhi, around midnight. Teams of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials and Delhi Police were stationed and officials said checking had begun immediately after the ban came into effect.
They said every vehicle entering from the Uttar Pradesh side was being scanned and if any vehicle was found to be non-compliant, they were stopped and sent back. The situation here seemed well-managed, and the teams were active.
Mayur Vihar-Noida Border
The situation changed drastically when NDTV reached the Mayur Vihar-Noida border around 1 am. Here, we could not see any sign of checking. Toll booths were open and MCD staff were busy collecting tolls from every truck and commercial vehicle passing through. Not a single vehicle was being stopped or scanned.
We started recording and then walked up to the MCD staff collecting tolls. "Are you collecting tolls from all vehicles?" we asked.
"Yes," the staffer replied.
"Is there any ban imposed?"
He looked puzzled. "I am not aware of any such ban," he said and pointed to another staff member.
We approached the second employee and asked, "Are all vehicles being allowed?"
"Yes, the rule is yet to be implemented. The government hasn't passed any order yet," he replied.
We then met a third MCD staffer who also said they were "only collecting tolls" and nothing more. He asked us to speak to a senior MCD official for clarity.
We then spoke to the senior official, who claimed BS-III vehicles were not allowed and that checking was being done 400 metres away by a Delhi Police team.
Delhi Police Checkpoint
To verify this, we moved to the second point the official had mentioned around 1.30 am. We stationed ourselves about 50 metres away and began observing. What we saw was a group of policemen standing together, not checking any vehicles. All commercial vehicles were allowed to pass.
After witnessing this for a few minutes, we approached the team with a camera and they suddenly became active. They picked up the devices for checking vehicle details and started stopping a few.
When we asked one of the cops whether the checking had just begun, he said they had been doing it since 11 pm.
"But we were standing there for some time and saw no checking was happening until now," we told him.
"We just started a short while ago," he replied.
