Nasscom welcomes Supreme Court breather on diesel cabs

NEW DELHI: IT-BPM industry body Nasscom today welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to allow diesel cabs to ply in Delhi-NCR till expiry of their permits and pledged to continue promoting public transport and use of non-polluting vehicles by the sector.

The Supreme Court today allowed cabs having all India tourist permits to ply in the national capital till the expiry of their permits but said there will be no new registration of diesel-run taxis in Delhi.

"Nasscom is thankful to the Supreme Court as well as the Government of India for understanding the genuine concerns of the BPM industry on the ban put on the plying of diesel based cabs in the Delhi-NCR region," it said in a statement.

Nasscom had last week said that the business process management (BPM) sector faces a potential loss of $1 billion if the ban on diesel taxis in Delhi NCR region continues for 2-3 weeks.

It said the ban on cabs had put immense pressure on the sector and business continuity, potentially denting its image at a global level.

Due to the nature of its work, the BPM industry functions 24x7 and its employees work across shifts day and night, it pointed out.

"The industry is cognizant of the safety of its employees, especially women. Hence, we are heavily dependent on cab services to ferry employees to and from their door-step," it added.

The body said it pledges to continue its focus on promoting public transport and the use of non-polluting vehicles by the industry.

Taxi aggregator Ola also welcomed the apex court's decision.

"The proposed phased roll out by EPCA and the government will help salvage the livelihoods of tens of thousands of drivers in Delhi NCR. Ola is committed to CNG adoption in Delhi NCR and currently has over 30,000 CNG vehicles on the platform," it said in a statement.