It was the Gujarat High Court, which issued an order advocating environment friendliness few days back. The High Court has been reported to have asked the state legislature to pass a law that asks every car registered in the state to be converted into CNG. The court has issued a deadline of one year to implement the entire order across the state. The order is certainly a step forward to cut down the surging pollution rate in the industrial state.
Apart from the aforesaid order, the high court has also asked the Gujarat state government to charge restrictions in order to check pollution by standardizing emission levels similar to the international standards. The law includes every single private-owned and public vehicle under its grasps.
In addition to what the court has asked to the government, high court Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Jsutice J B Pardiwala suggested lower fuel prices for public vehicles and higher fuel rates for private-owned vehicles. The entire statement by the high court stated, “State is directed to pass necessary orders within shortest possible period, at any rate not exceeding one year from today, compelling the owners of all vehicles having registration in Gujarat to use natural gas, and if necessary, even at higher prices, for the protection of the lives of the citizens living in the state”.
The hearing came out as a result of the petition filed by an environmental NGO Dhanghdhra Prakruti Mandal. As per the petition filed, the NGO claimed that the pollution levels in Ahmedabad were found to be as high as the ones in New Delhi and Mumbai. Apart from it, the filed petition added that the central government failed to provide the city cheaper CNG under the Administered Price Mechanism (APM). This is justified by the difference in CNG rates in Ahmedabad and Delhi. Delhi put a price of Rs 38.35/kg for CNG, while the same for Ahmedabad is Rs 53/kg.
