Ban On Heavy Vehicles In Delhi Will Hurt Business: CAIT

Opposing the Delhi government’s move to ban entry of medium and heavy goods vehicles in the national capital for the period of five months, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said the government has taken the decision without thinking. The Traders’ body said that this move will hurt business in city.

In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the Delhi government has decided to ban the entry of medium and heavy goods vehicles to the national capital from October to February. Vehicles carrying raw vegetables, fruit, grains, milk and such essential commodities will, however, be allowed, according to officials.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said this decision of the government is redundant and has been taken without taking the consequences into consideration.

He was quoted as saying that the decision will result in a great crisis as with this draconian decision no goods will come to Delhi nor goods can be sent from Delhi for five months as all the goods in Delhi come in trucks from other states and trucks run on diesel. Due to the long distances no trucks can run on electric or CNG power.

He stated that the decision will adversely affect the business of Delhi particularly at a time when these five months are always good for business due to festivals and the wedding season. CAIT has called a meeting of Delhi’s leading business associations on June 29, to decide the future course of action on the issue.

On 15 June, the Delhi government had written to its neighbouring states, including Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, urging them to allow only BS VI-compliant buses to enter the city from 1 October in order to help control air pollution.

The request was made to deal with the problem of vehicular pollution in the city, which officials here indicated, is contributed to in part by vehicles coming from the neighbouring state of Haryana.

The national capital witnesses high levels of air pollution in the winter months from October due to a multitude of factors, including stubble burning and vehicular traffic.

According to reports, nearly 70,000-80,000 trucks enter Delhi every day. Vehicles that will be allowed into the city include CNG-run commercial vehicles; e-trucks; all trucks carrying essential goods such as vegetables, fruits, grains, eggs, ice, milk and other food items; and tankers carrying petroleum products.

Formation Of CAIT

Inspired by the advice and vision of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, few dedicated traders in 1990 mooted an idea to constitute a forum to handle problems of traders and render effective service to them. Consequently during long span of all these CAIT has attained status of an apex body of Trading Community of India at National Level. Impressed by modalities of function of CAIT, the traders across the country extended excellent support to the extent that the CAIT in Delhi spread its wings all over the country and operating its activities from its national headquarter, “Vyapar Bhawan” at New Delhi which is well equipped with needy infrastructure.