The Delhi autorickshaw association on Thursday welcomed the Centre's air quality panel's direction to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to phase out diesel autos in NCR by 2026-end, but said drivers there should be given subsidies to switch to CNG and electric ones.

In a bid to reduce vehicular pollution, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has directed the three states to register only CNG and electric autos from January 1 and complete the phase out of the diesel ones in the National Capital Region (NCR) by the end of 2026. The CAQM issued an order on Wednesday, saying the target was that only CNG and e-autos ply in the NCR from January 1, 2027.

Delhi Auto Rickshaw Sangh general secretary Rajendra Soni said the governments in these states should provide subsidies to autorickshaw drivers to help them switch over to CNG and electric autos."The BJP government is there in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and we are hopeful that they will do it," he said.

The CAQM directed the three states to phase out diesel autos in a graded manner by the end of 2026. The NCR covers Delhi, 14 districts of Haryana, eight districts of Uttar Pradesh and two districts of Rajasthan. Delhi had launched a programme in 1998 to convert its fleet of diesel auto rickshaws into CNG ones. No diesel-run auto is registered in Delhi at present. The Delhi Transport Department had launched a scheme in October last year for registration of 4,261 e-autos.?

(With PTI inputs)