BS-I, BS-II oil tankers can’t enter Delhi, orders NGT
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday asked oil companies to immediately stop use of BS-I and BS-II vehicles to transport petrol or petroleum products into Delhi.
The Bharat Stage or BS norms are standards for vehicular emissions with BS-I and II suggesting the earliest generation of emission norms, while BS-IV stands for the latest of them. BS-IV norms will come into force in the India from Saturday.
“We direct that all the vehicles of these companies that are working under different contracts in Delhi-NCR and the diesel vehicles that are admittedly more than 10 years old and are BS-I and BS-II compliant shall be withdrawn from the roads in Delhi-NCR,” said the bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar.
The bench on Thursday gave this order to Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum, who have to immediately ban such vehicles from their fleet. The managing directors will be held personally liable to ensure compliance, they held, and told the companies to phase out BS-III compliant trucks.
Pollution experts in Delhi have welcomed the directive. “In 2015, when we had examined trucks entering Delhi, we found that they were responsible for almost one-third of particulate matter load in the city. Older trucks will pollute a lot more, and eliminating these will definitely help the air quality in the region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
Hundreds of old BS-I and BS-II tankers, and BS-III vehicles that are older than 10 years, presently operate on Delhi roads. Bharat Petroleum has 93 BS-III vehicles that are over 10 years old. Out of Hindustan Petroleum’s 99 diesel vehicles, 30 were BS-II compliant. Contractors that work for Indian Oil Corporation have 640 diesel vehicles, of which 622 are BS-II compliant, two are BS-I compliant, and 16 are BS-III compliant.
Roychowdhury has suggested “upgrading the enforcement strategy” and using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system to ensure that older trucks do not enter the capital. The NGT has also asked the Delhi Police to ensure the compliance of the order. Senior Delhi Traffic Police officers said they were still examining the NGT order and any decision on how to go about implementing it would be taken soon. (WITH INPUTS FROM SHIV SUNNY & PTI)