File Photo: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today said that two weeks are not enough to implement the National Green Tribunal's orders to ban old vehicles from Delhi and its surrounding areas.
"We will place our opinion before the Supreme Court that it is not possible to implement the directives within two weeks," said Mr Gadkari.
He was commenting on the two-week deadline given by the green court to the government to come up with ways of effectively implementing the ban.
In separate orders, the tribunal has banned petrol vehicles older than 15 years and 10-year-old diesel vehicles, from the National Capital Region. But the administration is struggling to execute the ban as it directly affects essential services including vegetable supply and garbage clearance.
Mr Gadkari has said that the government will come up with a studied policy in six months which will aim implementing the tribunal's directives while easing the pressure on citizens.
"We also want pollution free and a clean India, but we cannot suddenly stop the vehicles from entering the capital," said the minister, who welcomed the Supreme Court's support of the green tribunal's directives.
"The NGT is trying to do something good for people, let us not discourage but assist them," Chief Justice of India HL Dattu had said yesterday while dismissing a plea challenging the green court's jurisdiction.
The green panel has asked the government to suggest ways to enforce the ban by May 1. It has also sought recommendations for incentives for those who scrap polluting diesel vehicles.
Earlier this month the tribunal had rapped the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for not complying with its 2014 order on tackling pollution.