NEW DELHI, November 3: The Delhi Government has cleared the maxicab scheme less than four weeks before the Assembly polls. This allows owners of Harley Davidsons, which have been off the road since October 2, to buy diesel-run seven to 12 seater buses or any other vehicle with a similar seating capacity.Transport Commissioner S. Regunathan issued a notice on October 30 to convey the Cabinet decision to his departmental officers and the Harley Davidson operators' union which operated in the Chandni Chowk area.Delhi Transport Minister Devinder Singh Shaukeen today confirmed that the Cabinet had taken the decision last week. He also said that this violated the model code of conduct. ``We are only implementing the Supreme Court order by offering a replacement for Harley Davidsons,'' Singh said. In his notice, Regunathan states: ``The Cabinet of the Government of the NCT of Delhi has decided that MCRs/ Harley Davidson phatphaties may be replaced by vehicles complying with mass emission standards as notified, be they diesel (Euro 1), petrol, CNG, propane or any other approved fuel''.He adds: ``The replacement of vehicles should be of maxicab passenger capacity (i.e. seven to 12 passengers excluding driver); and of hard body''.A senior official pointed out that the Cabinet decision was an election sop. ``It apparently does not violate the Supreme Court order and it appeases phatphati operators. And the choice of fuels for maxicabs is also very wide,'' he said.Moreover, he added, there was an official ban on registration of only diesel-run taxis since April 1 this year; Maxicabs do not fall under this category. ``This technical point has been the basis of all arguments for and against the scheme''.Maxicabs were first proposed by former Transport Minister Rajendra Gupta as a pollution-free alternative to Harley Davidsons, though these can also run on diesel.The green signal for the scheme also means the selection of automobile companies to manufacture maxicabs. So far, the government has not floated tenders. The official stand is: ``We have approached several companies like Tata, Mahindra and Eicher. But we have not awarded the contract to anyone''. But sources say the choice has narrowed down to Mahindra.Devinder Singh, however, denied that he had initiated a dialogue with any automobile company. ``Any vehicle of the approved design can be run as a maxicab. For example, the new eight-seater Maruti van. It is the phatpati owner's headache to choose the vehicle, not mine''.For the Harley Davidson operators, there is just one hitch regarding the scheme. According to Regunathan's notice, phased-out vehicles that are ``under superdari or whose transfer has been prohibited by any court, will not be eligible for replacement without the competent court's permission''.
