Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Supreme Court bans non BS-IV velhicles

On the face of it, today's Supreme Court verdict confirming the ban of sale of any vehicle that is not BS-IV compliant after April 1, is welcome. This will certainly help improve emissions across the country, especially in the bloating metros over the long term. A few metros have also worked on pollution compliance of public buses . taxis and autos. These measures will bear fruit over a longer horizon.

It is amusing to see some non-compliant auto compaies cry foul. They were intimated to move to BS-IV in 2010, and here they are, 7 years later, sitting complacently and hoping that the SC would oblige their lobby to continue to produce and sell polluting vehicles. It is even more amusing to see them cry about a possible 30000 crore loss, citing unsold inventory. Who asked them to produce, until the last date, knowing well that there is a strong possibility of this ban happening?

That having been said, the question to the central and the sate governments is - what have they done about the 1960s Fargo lorries, Ambassadors, lakhs of lorries that resemble mobile mosquito fumigation machines than trucks, and all other old vehicles that simply do not deserve to be on the road?

I will still give the benefit of doubt to the governments, both central and state, and hope that they come out with a practical plan to take old, dilapidated and polluting vehicles off the road - in spite of those mighty bribe-receiving arms of the RTOs.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/auto/miscellaneous/supreme-court-bans-sale-of-bs-iii-vehicles-from-april-1/articleshow/57891089.cms

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