Diesel cabs go off Delhi roads

With the Supreme Court allowing diesel taxi drivers in Delhi, with an ‘All India Permit’, valid upto five years, to ply on the roads, diesel taxi drivers finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was only days earlier that over 27,000 diesel taxis including those of cab aggregators like Ola and Uber vanished from Delhi’s roads. It was a Supreme Court judgement that made diesel taxis to vanish. After extending the deadline, that required all diesel taxis to be converted to CNG upto 31 March, 2016, more than once from December 2015, the Supreme Court finally decided to crack a whip on the taxi operators who failed to comply. This time the court refused to extend the deadline beyond 30, April 2016, and did not entertain any further requests from the Kejriwal government asking for consideration. This resulted in a mayhem on the streets of the capital. With taxi drivers taking the roads to protest, blocking several key roads like the Yamuna expressway, commuters had to bear the brunt. Realising the gravity of the matter, the court changed its stance and allowed the cabs with a five year ‘All India Permit’ to ply on the roads. Taking into consideration that the livelihood of 30,000 drivers would be affected, the apex court directed the Delhi government to present a detailed roadmap, on how the government plans to phase out the diesel taxis over a five year period. While the judgement settled the unrest in the capital, the ban continues on registration of new diesel cabs and new ‘All India Permit cabs.