Supreme Court Orders Govt to Impound 15-year-old Petrol, 10-year-old Diesel Vehicles in NCR - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Supreme Court Orders Govt to Impound 15-year-old Petrol, 10-year-old Diesel Vehicles in NCR.

The CPCB will immediately make social media account on which citizens can complain about pollution, the top court ordered.

The Supreme Court on Monday prohibited the plying of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in the national capital region (NCR) and directed the transport department to announce that such vehicles would be impounded if found plying.
Terming as "very critical" the prevailing situation of pollution in Delhi-NCR region, the apex court directed that a list of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles be published on the web site of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and transport department.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said that advertisement on this should also be published in the newspapers. Taking note of news reports of severe air pollution, the bench said, "If you take a walk in the evening to the Old Delhi railway station, you will see poor people on cycle rickshaws. They have no option but to work outside to earn a living. Hundreds of people are earning their livelihood outside... how do you tell them? Will you tell them to kill themselves by working in all this pollution?"
The bench directed the CPCB to immediately create a social media account on which citizens could lodge their complaints directly about pollution on which appropriate action could be taken by the authorities concerned.
It permitted the court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to take pre-emptive steps under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) without strict adherence to pollution stages delineated in the plan.
GRAP is aimed at tackling air pollution in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas and it is designed to take urgent remedial action when air quality deteriorates.
The apex court passed these directions on a note placed before it by advocate Aparajita Singh, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter, seeking urgent directions to correct the prevailing situation of pollution.
Earlier, the National Green Tribunal had also banned the plying of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in the Delhi-NCR. The apex court had rejected a plea against the NGT's order banning plying of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles on Delhi roads.
The top court is seized of matters in which several issues related to air pollution in the Delhi-NCR have been raised.


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Supreme Court Orders Govt to Impound 15-year-old Petrol, 10-year-old Diesel Vehicles in NCR.

Delhi Becomes First Indian City to Roll-Out Euro-VI Ultra Clean Petrol, Diesel - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis

Delhi Becomes First Indian City to Roll-Out Euro-VI Ultra Clean Petrol, Diesel.

Delhi is among the first city in the country to leapfrog from Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel to Euro-VI.

Ultra-clean Euro-VI grade petrol and diesel, at no additional price, supply has been started in the national capital from yesterday in a bid to combat alarming levels of air pollution.
Delhi is among the first city in the country to leapfrog from Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel to Euro-VI. Cities in the national capital region like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad as well as 13 major cities including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune will switch over to cleaner Euro-VI grade fuel from January 1 next year. Rest of the country will follow suit from April 2020.
State-owned oil firms have begun supplying the BS-VI petrol and diesel (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norm) at all their 391 petrol pumps in the national capital territory (NCT) from yesterday.
While the oil companies have invested heavily to produce cleaner fuel, the consumers are not being passed on any of the cost for the time being, said Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Director (Refineries) B V Rama Gopal.
"Rest assured we don't have plans of passing on the cost to consumers. There are no plans to recover (the cost) from customers immediately," he told reporters.
Costing wise, the cleaner fuel should cost around 50 paise a liter more.
He said a mechanism for recovering the cost when the whole country shifts to Euro-VI grade fuel would be worked out.
To meet Delhi's annual consumption of 9.6 lakh tonnes of petrol and 12.65 lakh tonnes of diesel, Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh, Panipat refinery in Haryana, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Bhatinda in Punjab have started producing Euro-VI grade fuel. About Rs 183 crore has been spent on Panipat refinery alone for producing cleaner fuel.
Other refineries are in the process of being upgraded, he said.
India had in 2015 decided to leapfrog to Euro-VI emission norm compliant petrol and diesel from April 2020, from the Euro-IV grade at present.
While the deadline for the rest of the country stands, the same for Delhi, which is choking on thick toxic smog, was brought forward. Euro-VI grade fuel contains 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur as against 50 ppm in Euro-IV fuels.
Gopal said the cleaner Euro-VI fuel and lesser grade cars and two-wheelers, which are presently available in the country, would result in 10-20 percent reduction in particulate emission but for full benefits, the vehicles too need to have Euro-VI engines.
IOC, the nation's biggest oil firm controlling roughly half of retail fuel market, will source the BS-VI fuel to meet Delhi's requirement from its Mathura and Panipat refineries, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will do so from its joint venture refinery at Bhatinda. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will supply the fuel from its Bina refinery.
According to IOC, for petrol engines, one of the most critical specifications is Research Octane No. (RON), which has improved from 88 in BS-II to 91. It is at par with regular 91 octane gasoline (petrol) required for Euro VI emission norms.
Sulphur specification for petrol and diesel will be reduced 50 times from a level of 500 ppm for BS-II fuel to 10 ppm in BS-VI.
Previously, the fuels meeting Euro-IV or Bharat Stage (BS)-IV specifications were to be supplied throughout the country by April 2017 and BS-V or Euro-V grade fuel by April 1, 2020. But now the government plans to switch over directly from BS-IV to BS-VI auto fuels.
Oil refineries had previously upgraded technology and invested over Rs 55,000 crore for production and supply of BS-III/IV fuels. Oil refineries will need to invest Rs 28,000 crore in upgrading petrol and diesel quality to meet cleaner fuel specifications by 2020. (Source:news18.com)


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Delhi Becomes First Indian City to Roll-Out Euro-VI Ultra Clean Petrol, Diesel.