NGT refuses to shift Tughlaqabad container depot

NEW DELHI: National Green Tribunal has refused to shift the inland container depot at Tughlaqabad and asked for a plan to only allow Delhi-bound cargo there and to stop haphazard parking of vehicles on the roads.

A bench comprising NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice S P Wangdi has asked Container Corporation of India (Concor), which runs the depot, to submit an action-taken report on phasing out diesel vehicles and cargo trucks and shifting to electric, hybrid and CNG vehicles and creating a dedicated parking lot inside the complex.

“Handling procedure may be improved in the light of latest safety norms. Concor shall ensure the effective implementation of on-site and off-site emergency plan as mandated under Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 2000, as amended by Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 by way of adequate monitoring, training and supervision at regular intervals...,” the bench said.

NGT said the depot was certainly contributing to pollution, but it is not the sole contributor and control of air pollution requires a comprehensive plan. “Any piecemeal direction for restricting a particular activity, except when such activity is clearly illegal or prohibited under the planning rules, may not be appropriate,” it said.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by warehousing expert Ajay Khera claiming that non-Delhi bound operations currently being carried out at the depot were contributing to the alarming levels of air pollution in the city. Hence, it should be shifted to an economically and environment-friendly location outside the capital.

In his plea, Khera had submitted that despite having a large area for parking, hundreds of trucks and container carriers were parked on the road outside the depot causing traffic jams.