New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday stayed its last week’s order banning diesel vehicles over 10 years old from plying the roads of Delhi and its environs, a move prompted by its desire to keep public services running, with truckers’ associations threatening to strike from Tuesday. The original order was directed at improving the air quality in Delhi, among the worst in the world.

Staying the order for two weeks, the tribunal asked the Union and state governments involved to submit affidavits giving their views on issues such as the age of vehicles to be permitted to run in the Delhi and national capital region, which includes parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, a cap on the number of vehicles to be registered in the region, incentives for carpooling, concessions to people who scrap their vehicles due to the tribunal’s orders, increasing public transport and the imposition of higher registration and congestion charges on those having more than one vehicle.

Meanwhile, the governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, along with the Union environment ministry, on Monday announced a three-month plan to control air pollution in Delhi and its neighbourhood. Environment minister Prakash Javadekar announced several measures to be implemented by the states and said the ministry will issue rules on construction and demolition waste for all states to follow.

The measures announced include the registration of only vehicles that conform to BS-IV emission norms in 11 districts of Haryana that fall under the national capital region; action against overloaded trucks and people who dispose waste by burning it; a plasma gasification plant, the first in Asia, that will be set up by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation to convert waste to gas; and the phasing out by NTPC Ltd of three units of the Badarpur coal-fired plant, among the oldest and most polluting in the country.

The tribunal’s stay came after Delhi government and central ministries said its order, while well-meaning, was posing several practical problems.

“We appreciate the initiative and responses of the government of Delhi and other concerned state governments to provide cleaner air and better environmental life. We find some substance in the submission made on behalf of various governments and authorities and the stakeholders,” said the NGT bench led by chairperson Swatanter Kumar, on Monday.

The bench also observed that its earlier order came after repeated requests to state and central governments seeking suggestions on improving Delhi’s air quality received no response. Terming the decisions announced by the central and state governments as “good”, the petitioner who filed the case on air quality before the tribunal, Sanjay Kulshresthra, said the real issue “is the number of vehicles” in the national capital region.