Ahmedabad: From NY day, no non-CNG autos in city
Written by Newsticker - Asia at 01 Jan 2007 00:10:53:
Ahmedabad, December 31: From New Year day, the city’s air is going to be a bit more cleaner. If authorities have their way, all non-CNG autorickshaws will stop plying on city roads from Day One of 2007 — Monday.
A recent resolution by the Regional Transport Authority Board says that no non-CNG autorickshaw will be allowed to ply on city roads from January 1, 2007. According to RTO records, while there are 35,000 autorickshaws in Ahmedabad, 29,000 of them are run on CNG— the remaining ones are non-CNG ones.
Board Chairperson and Ahmedabad District Collector D Thara said, ‘‘This resolution is a part of our ambitious CNG movement to control the increasing levels of pollution in the city. After getting all the general autorickshaws installed with CNG systems, our next focus will be on the loading rickshaws in the city.’’
It was in July 2005 that the State Government initiated CNG movement for autorickshaws in the city. Eighteen months since then, the movement is all set to complete its first stage, when all the general autorickshaws in the city will run on pollution-free CNG.
However, the Auto Rickshaw Drivers’ Action Committee (ARDAC) has sought for the January 1 deadline to be extended by at least three months. Committee president Ashok Punjabi said, ‘‘We are not against installation of CNG systems in the remaining non-CNG autorickshaws, but we want the deadline to be extended. A CNG kit in Gujarat costs nearly Rs 23,000 and the government should give some time to these autorickshaw drivers who on an average save less than Rs 150 a day.’’
Punjabi, who claims to have given a memorandum on the issue to the Ahmedabad RTO, G A Oza, threatens to stage demonstrations outside the RTO office if the deadline is not extended. He says of the remaining non-CNG autos, at least 1,000 will be made CNG-driven sooner or later.
Oza, when asked for comments, said the board may give a few days relaxation before enforcing the rule completely. ‘‘We have received some requests from autorickshaw drivers’ unions and the January 1 deadline may be extended by a few days,’’ he said.
The flip-side of the story, however, is that the administration is yet to find a solution to queues outside gas stations, which get longer by every day. ‘‘Ahmedabad needs at least 10 more CNG stations so that the wait by the drivers outside the gas stations is cut shorter,’’ says Punjabi.
Source: Thanks to cities.expressindia.com - Ahmedabad Newsline