The government has no plans to ban diesel vehicles in Delhi as the Indian vehicles have been designed for optimum performance of emissions and fuel efficiency.
In an official statement to the Lok Sabha, Environment minister Prakash Javadekar clarified that the government has no plans to ban diesel vehicles in Delhi and convert them into CNG-driven vehicles. The statement came in response to a report filed by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (ECPA) for the National Capital Region in 2007, which stated that the use of diesel in personal transport vehicles in the city needed to be stopped. Environmentalists believed that the excessive use of diesel vehicles for personal use was a primary reason for the alarming air pollution levels in the country’s capital.
The minister in his response stated that Indian vehicles have been designed for optimum performance of emissions and fuel efficiency in Indian conditions. Stating further, Mr. Javadekar added that from a technological perspective, Indian vehicles are at par with international technologies as several vehicles are exported to international markets, while international models are also imported and sold in the country. However, due to variety of reasons including fuel quality, traffic condition, road conditions and driving behaviour, the fuel efficiency and emissions of a vehicle are affected.
Most recently, the Green Court banned all vehicles in Delhi over the age of 15 years in order to curb the city’s pollution issue. There was also demand of reducing sulphur content in fuel, which is one of the primary reasons causing the pollution. To curb this pollution issue with respect to vehicles, the government needs to implement Euro 5 emission norms at the earliest. At present, India follows the Euro inspired Bharat Stage IV (BS4) emission norms for 4-wheelers which will be completely applicable throughout the country by 2017, while BS V and VI norms are expected to be applicable by 2020 and 2024 respectively.
In contrast, Europe will be graduating to Euro 6 emission norms soon. Environmentalists argue that the application of the BS V norms in 2020 would be useless and the same needs to be implemented at the earliest. At present only 13 cities across the country follow BS IV norms which are only a fraction of the whole country. The need for BS V norms is increasing by the day and will certainly curb down tail pipe emissions by a significant margin.
