New Delhi, Dec 30: Government is likely to delay implementation of BS-V norms for vehicles by a year to 2020 due to unavailability of suitable fuel despite rising concerns over pollution in the national capital.
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry is expected to take a call tomorrow on the timeline for adoption of stricter emission standards, according to sources.
A meeting of an inter-ministerial group, including representatives of ministries of road transport and highways, petroleum, heavy industries and environment, held today could not come to a consensus. Road Transport and Highways Secretary Vijay Chhibber chaired the meeting.
“The Road Transport and Highways Ministry will take a final call on implementing BS-V and BS-VI norms for vehicles by Thursday. The BS-V implementation is likely to be from 2020,” an official source said.
In November, a draft notification by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoEF), had advanced dates for implementation of BS-V norms to April 1, 2019 and BS-VI norms to April 1, 2021.
However, according to the roadmap earlier laid down by the Auto Fuel Policy, BS-V norms were to implemented from April 1, 2022 and BS-VI fromApril 1, 2024.
According to sources, the road transport and highways ministry was of the view that the roll out the BS-V norms must start from 2019 but petroleum ministry expressed inability to comply with the deadline of 2019, sources said.
“The Petroleum Ministry officials said they would be in a position to supply BS-V compliant fuel by 2022 only,” a source said.
They said they will be able to supply lower rated fuel, that is with Octane 91, in comparison to Octane 95 in Europe, the source added.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries wanted BS-V norms to be implemented by 2020, they added.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) suggested that BS-V norms should be skipped and and a “lenient timeline” should be given to implement BS-VI norms, they added.
However, automobile industry body SIAM has been opposing skipping of BS-V and jumping to BS-VI, saying it is not technically feasible.
