BCCI DECIDES TO SEEK SC NOD TO WATER DOWN LODHA REFORMS

MUMBAI: The Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI on Sunday decided to seek the Supreme Court’s approval to water down administrative reforms on tenure cap for its office-bearers and named secretary Jay Shah as its representative for the ICC chief executives’ committee meeting.

The decisions to seek apex court’s approval for dilution of tenure cap, which is aimed at clearing the path for an extended stint for Ganguly, and appoint Shah for the ICC meet were taken at the Board’s 88th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai. “At the end of the day, the court will decide,” Ganguly said at a press conference.

As per the current constitution, an office-bearer who has served two three-year terms, either at the BCCI or at the state association, goes into a compulsory 3-year cooling-off period.

Ganguly, who took charge on October 23, was to vacate office next year but a dilution could see him continue till 2024.

NEW DELHI: Pollution checking centres in the national capital region (NCR) do not check how much a diesel car emits two of the most harmful pollutants — nitrogen oxide (NOX) and ultrafine PM 2.5 particles — according to data and experts who say the current system to certify vehicles as non-polluting is based on “obsolete” technology.

Data from Delhi government’s transport department between September and November this year shows that approximately 800,000 pollution-under-control (PUC) certificates were issued across 943 certified centres in the national capital. However, none of these certificates clear a vehicle for the emission of NOX and PM 2.5.

The problem lies with machines that are used to measure emissions in exhaust gases of diesel vehicles. While all European and American cities, along with most Asian cities, use technology to track NOX, PM, carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC), Delhi’s PUC centres are equipped to measure only the latter two pollutants in the case of petrol vehicles. For diesel, they measure the opacity of the smoke through what is known as the Hartridge Smoke Unit (HSU),

an archaic proxy for particulate matter content.

“Smart monitoring of on-road emissions has become necessary and inevitable in Delhi as most of our on-road fleet has become BS-IV compliant and we will move to BS-VI technology for new vehicles next year. Delhi cannot afford to remain moribund with only one archaic PUC programme that was originally designed for older technologies,” said Anumita Roychowdhury,

executive director (research and advocacy) at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

BSIV, or Bharat Stage IV, refers to vehicle technology and mechanics that are an improvement over older vehicles in terms of emissions.

According to a study by United States (Us)-based International Council of Clean Transportation (ICCT), NOX -- which has been linked to health condi