New Delhi, Aug 3 - There is no proposal by the government to restrict the use of private cars in the capital in order to cut carbon dioxide emissions, nor is there a plan to impose any congestion tax, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here Monday.

He was replying to a question posed in the Rajya Sabha by MP and former Bollywood star Hema Malini.

'The government is committed to improve the quality of public transport in Delhi through extension of Metro, introduction of BRT (Bus Rapid Transport) corridors, procurement of low-floor buses for DTC, modernisation of Private Stage Carriage Services, installation of GPS based automatic tracking & monitoring system, and introduction of automatic fare collection system to facilitate seamless travel across modes,' Ramesh said.

'The objective is to improve and encourage greater use of public transport system in Delhi to reduce road congestion, pollution and reduction in emission of carbon dioxide.'

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas that is leading to climate change, which in turn is affecting farm output, making droughts, floods and storms more frequent and more severe and raising the sea level. India is one of the worst affected countries.