Greens question Mashelkar report on auto fuel policy

Rupali Mukherjee & Rajeev Jayaswal

New Delhi, Jan 4: The Mashelkar committee on auto fuel policy has ignored the fate of the existing vehicles, besides leaving unaddressed core issues including fuel and auto technology for the future.
“The added cost on the refineries and auto industry to maintain ambient air quality as suggested by the interim report will have an inflationary impact on the economy with the price of fuel going up”, noted environmentalist and Confederation of Indian Industry’s environment management division’s head KP Nyati told The Financial Express.

The ambient air quality norms will continue to be violated even later if no steps are taken to phase out ill-maintained vehicles, he said, adding that there is a need to have a vigorous inspection and maintenance regime for vehicles, and a tougher one for commercial vehicles. Switching over to higher emission standards and fuel quality has wide ranging financial and economic implications, with the cost per vehicle going up on an average between Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. The automobile industry will be required to spend around Rs 25,000 crore over a period of 10 years to upgrade vehicles.

The air quality will improve by around 30 to 40 per cent if vehicles are better maintained and inspected, he informed.

The investment required for upgrading refineries to produce Bharat Stage II (Euro II) auto fuel is estimated to be around Rs 18,000 crore which may lead to an increase in the price of diesel by at least Rs 3 per litre, translating into across-the-board cost increases. Mr Nyati suggested that instead of going for a blanket ban, used vehicles can be relocated to rural areas where there is practically no threat to air quality.

“The government can bring in a regulation specifying the age of vehicles as 15 years or more”, he elaborated. Besides the added cost on upgradation on vehicles, retrofitments are not feasible for all vehicles because of social and economic implications.

“If we take the example of the National Capital Region, there are over three million vehicles plying on the roads. It will be difficult to upgrade all these vehicles”.

“What can be done is: Improve and speed up the public transport system and the traffic management in cities”, Mr Nyati suggested.
“Why can’t the private sector be given the charge of running buses with a minimum stock of 100 vehicles. They can ply on profitable routes and pay a part of their turnover to the government which can cross subsidise the other routes which are uneconomical ones”, he added.