Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) announces 2-year advancement of introduction of Bharat Stage VI fuel norms from April 1, 2018 in Delhi

“This is the kind of proactive and responsive leadership we need to see in our government. This is also the kind of drastic measure that is required given the scale of the crisis. We cannot anymore work with small and incremental steps to bring us the kind of air quality benefits that we need” said Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE.

Ironically, this leadership has come from the MoPNG and not from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEFCC) that remains the nodal ministry for environmental regulations. In fact, points out CSE, the MoEFCC has given repeated affidavit to the Supreme Court contesting the provision of the Comprehensive Action Plan on clean air submitted by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) that has asked industry to both manufacture and sell BSVI models from April 1, 2020. MoEFCC has mentioned in its affidavit that “the technical challenges of leapfrogging directly from BSIV to BSVI are far more complex and challenging. If the date shifts to become the date of registration then it would actually reduce the time available to industry for manufacturing to a mere 2 years or so although BSVI fuel will not be available across the country till April 1, 2020”.

“Even though the full air quality gains will come when vehicles also move to BSVI emissions standards, the current move should not be underestimated in a choking city like Delhi. With substantially cleaner fuel emissions, control system in on-road fleet will improve and give some emissions benefits” added Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, CSE and head of the organisation’s air pollution campaign.

But what is clear is that Delhi and the rest of India’s choking cities will win this battle against the smog with decisive leadership, which pushes the envelope for big change. This is one step in this direction.