Govt. to put the brakes on pollution by diesel vehicles

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar has proposed stringent pollution control norms for diesel vehicles.

Addressing the ninth Sustainable and Inclusive Solutions Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Tuesday, he said the number of vehicles had more than doubled in 10 years and would continue to grow.

Initial norms for diesel vehicles were less stringent. Now that the price differential between petrol and diesel had narrowed and fuel pricing was market-driven, the norms could be tightened. The government had notified new emission norms for vehicles which would be effective from April 2016.

Mr. Javadekar said the government had made environment norms more stringent for the cement industry, in consultation with it. He proposed to tighten the norms for all industries and the government would ensure compliance.

On the performance of the earlier regime, the Minister said he did not want to go into a blame game. “We have started taking decisions and we have deleted the word ‘delay.’”