Traders oppose govt decision to ban heavy goods vehicles

Opposing the Delhi government’s decision to ban the entry of medium and heavy goods vehicles in the city, traders and transport organisations have said that it would “grossly and adversely affect” businesses in the national capital.

The decision to ban the entry of medium and heavy goods vehicles to the national capital from October 1 to February 28 is aimed at curbing vehicular pollution, which leads to deterioration in the air quality during the winter months.

Only those vehicles carrying raw vegetables, fruit, grains, milk and essential commodities have been exempted from this ban.

All India Motor and Goods Transport president Rajender Kapoor demanded the rollback of the ban and asked the government to consider some other way to resolve the pollution problem.

Mr Kapoor said : “Transportation quantity (of various essential commodities) is in hundreds of tons, which can be done only by heavy motor vehicles, not by light motor vehicles. Heavy machinery and building materials are also brought from various states and that cannot be done by light motor vehicles.”

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has convened a meeting of leading business associations of Delhi on June 29 to decide the future course of action over the issue.

Condemning the Arvind Kejriwal government’s decision, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the move will ruin the trade in Delhi to a larger extent.

He claimed the traders in Delhi are “anguished and will oppose the arbitrary and obnoxious order.” He said that the decision under question reflects the “anti-trade attitude” of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.