In view of the Hon’ble court’s interest in the matter and the importance of this measure in controlling vehicular pollution in the national capital region of Delhi, EPCA reviewed the status of implementation of the relevant court orders in order to report progress to the Court. In this regard EPCA has organized a series of meetings with the relevant state government agencies from all the concerned states and the central government i.e. PWD, Haryana, PWD, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi Police, and National Highways Authority of India. Four alternate routes for bypassing of the goods vehicles that were suggested by the Delhi police to the Hon’ble Court in response to the Court order, dated December 6, 2001. After discussion with the concerned State Governments, Delhi Police and the National Highway Authority of India, EPCA submitted a report to the Hon’ble Supreme Court in November 2004 for speedy action construction of bypasses.

All in-use vehicles in India are required to have a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate. But even as emission norms for the new vehicles were made stringent, the government did not revise the norms for checking the emissions from the in-use fleet. Therefore, the old vehicles (which clearly would emit higher), were regulated at par with new vehicles, which should be emitting lesser emissions. In February 10, 2004, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) revised the in-use emissions norms, which are to be implemented across the country from October 1, 2004.

EPCA had reviewed the implementation of the new in-use emission norms throughout the country. EPCA has talked to various key officials of different state transport departments, and state pollution control board. In its special report "The implementation of the in-use emission norms as amended by the Union government in February 2004" submitted in November 2004, directions from the Hon’ble Supreme Court have been sought.

The three-wheeled scooter rickshaw (TSR) plays a very important role as intermediate public transport in the country. Delhi has around 53,262 registered three-wheelers as of August 31, 2004 running on compressed natural gas (CNG). The Hon’ble court has time and again discussed issues pertaining to three-wheelers in Delhi, from the point of congestion and also of pollution. The order of December 1997 imposed a cap on issuing fresh permits to the three-wheelers in Delhi. Registration was allowed only on replacement basis. In December 2002 however the Hon’ble court allowed a further increase (5,000) in the number of three wheelers.

EPCA held a meeting on October 23, 2004 with the various Unions of three-wheelers in Delhi, the Malawa Ram Market Association and the transport department of Delhi. On October 30, 2004 EPCA also held a meeting with the Bajaj Auto to discuss the technical issues in their three-wheelers. Based on the discussions, in response to the Hon’ble Supreme Court Order Dated October 8, 2004 in response to the I.A. 217 of 2003, EPCA has submitted its report "Report on the increase in the number of three-wheelers in Delhi, Nonmember 2004":

In response to the orders of the Hon’ble Court, the EPCA had submitted the report – "Final Report on Particulate Pollution Reduction Strategy in Seven Critically Polluted Cities" on January 2004. This included the final action plans of the seven cities that have outlined the common minimum programme, which have been agreed upon between the respective state governments and EPCA along with the recommendations wherever necessary. The key concern of the Authority in this regard has been to ensure firm and well-defined actions with a tight schedule for implementation and clarity of responsibility and accountability of the implementing agencies.

Since the submissions of the action plans for control of RSPM in critically polluted cities, EPCA has been monitoring the progress and status of the action plans. For effective monitoring EPCA has begun to organise discussions with the concerned state governments and visit the concerned cities. EPCA members also visited Lucknow on June 11, 2004 and submitted special report to the Hon’ble Supremen Court in July 2004.

Delhi’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) programme, which was implemented under the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, has become a role model for Asian cities, which are looking for options to reduce air pollution. Since its inception, the programme has expanded and evolved. Today, with 122 CNG stations and roughly 90,000 CNG vehicles, it is one of the largest programmes in the region. The average CNG sales are to the tune of 8.02-lakh kg/day. However, the CNG infrastructure is restricted only to the National Capital Territory of Delhi and does not extend to the neighbouring towns, in spite of increasing pollution imperatives.

Currently, the neighbouring towns like Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Greater Noida are unable to capitalise on this existing infrastructure. As CNG is not available in these towns, it becomes very difficult for smoother flow of vehicles across the region. It is also important that benefits of the cleaner fuels should also be made available to the towns in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi.

EPCA began its discussions with IGL on the expansion of the CNG programme in December 2002, after the implementation of programme in Delhi. In this context EPCA have held various meetings with both IGL and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) to assess their plans for expanding the CNG network in the country in general and NCR towns in specific. While IGL is working to implement the city gas distribution projects in the NCR towns of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Greater Noida, GAIL is actively pursuing its projects in Kanpur and Pune, among other cities. On requests of the EPCA, IGL has also plans for including Ghaziabad in the CNG expansion programme. However, for the timely and successful implementation of the programme, the EPCA has sought directions from the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its report submitted in December 2004.