[AWD]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Looks like we can now dissolve the the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha and all Secretaries and IAS officers can resign their job. Now that NGT & Courts have decided to formulate the laws for the country. Earlier, their job was to uphold laws, enshrined in our constitution and/or those passed by parliament. .

Sirji the supreme legislature of the Country is doing nothing since ages & cannot expect anything good to come out of the babus. We would continue to stay in a state of suspended animation depending on the legislature. Our Country has woken up very late to the imminent threat, by now we should have had established hybrid & alternate energy vehicles infrastructure.

I don't see any problems with the +2000cc private vehicular ban. Its time Country shifted to small, nimble, efficient & non-polluting vehicles.

Lets not think too much of the Auto Industry & believe too much what the Auto journos have to say. Industry will find alternate ways to cope up & as such they have milked the diesel car buyer since long.

Without thinking just about ourselves or our vehicles, we should think of the larger cause & do whatever is useful to the environment.

[a4anurag]

Finally some sense has dawned in the NGT panel. Fingers crossed for the main hearing on the 11th July.

The National Green Tribunal today said that there was no plan to extend the ban on diesel vehicles prevailing in the national capital and Kerala to other cities across the country.

The clarification came from the green panel which said that as of now it was not planning to extend such ban and it would first examine the data received from different states on pollution levels in various cities.

The tribunal also directed all the concerned secretaries of all states to submit an affidavit within three weeks stating two most polluted cities within their territory, total population and vehicle density in each district.

"We are not banning any vehicles. We have asked state governments to submit a report on the pollution levels in various cities. Let that data come and then we will hear different parties and decide accordingly," a bench headed by Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

[QUOTE ]Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures, opposed the idea of extending diesel ban to other metros and said diesel was not the only source of pollution. "Sources of pollution are other than diesel vehicles as well. Other sources like dust and burning also contribute to the air pollution," Singhvi said.[/quote]

The tribunal had also rapped Central Pollution Control Board for submitting "half-baked" data on the population and vehicle density in major cities across the country. The CPCB report had indicated that ambient air quality in most of the cities was beyond permissible standards.

SOURCE: http://m.economictimes.com/articlesh...campaign=cppst

[canonball]

Originally Posted by AWD

Sirji the supreme legislature of the Country is doing nothing since ages & cannot expect anything good to come out of the babus. We would continue to stay in a state of suspended animation depending on the legislature. Our Country has woken up very late to the imminent threat, by now we should have had established hybrid & alternate energy vehicles infrastructure.

I don't see any problems with the +2000cc private vehicular ban. Its time Country shifted to small, nimble, efficient & non-polluting vehicles.

Lets not think too much of the Auto Industry & believe too much what the Auto journos have to say. Industry will find alternate ways to cope up & as such they have milked the diesel car buyer since long.

Without thinking just about ourselves or our vehicles, we should think of the larger cause & do whatever is useful to the environment.

AWD you have nailed it succinctly. Although at heart is a matter most important to us auto enthusiast, but if we are paving the way or creating a case study of how to sort what ills the nation on all fronts so be it. I am all for this type of approach in so many other areas of our counties administration like unaccounted wealth, corporate defaulters, politicians who have amassed senseless amount of wealth through kickbacks, overall corruption etc. shock at times can get instantaneous impact or result. Good start!

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by AWD

Sirji the supreme legislature of the Country is doing nothing since ages & cannot expect anything good to come out of the babus.

Yes. Let supreme court make all decisions. We don't need elected representatives or Babu's. When making decisions for the larger country, it needs to be thought out thoroughly including the socio and economic impact of the rule. It cannot be based on the whim's and fancies of a single judge.

Dou think a 10 year old Indica taxi with a 1.4 liter engine will polllute less than a 2.4 liter innova with the latest common rail engine? Something does need to done about pollution, but the cure shouldn't be worse than the decease.

[deetjohn]

A saving grace for Merc fans in DL.

Merc' new OM 654 2L turbo-diesel engine with an aluminum block should debut with the new E Class. And since its sub 2L (1950cc to be exact), it escapes the ban.

The 220 configuration is rated at 195 hp @ 3800 rpm with peak torque of 400Nm @ 1600-2400 rpm.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

A saving grace for Merc fans in DL.

Merc' new OM 654 2L turbo-diesel engine with an aluminum block should debut with the new E Class. And since its sub 2L (1950cc to be exact), it escapes the ban.

The 220 configuration is rated at 195 hp @ 3800 rpm with peak torque of 400Nm @ 1600-2400 rpm.

Perfect example on how this ban is a poor joke played on the common public. A 1950 or even a 1999.999 cc engine is magically non polluting, however a 2000.000001 cc engine is highly toxic and should be banned. May be the NGT members are nobel prize winning mathematicians and scientists to have figured out the magic 2000cc number to play a cutoff. Had they gone the rational way in banning any engine which pollutes over a particular figure and kept tightening the norms over time, I would have whole heartedly supported the ban, however this adhoc cutoff doesn't really cut it for me

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

A 1950 or even a 1999.999 cc engine is magically non polluting, however a 2000.000001 cc engine is highly toxic and should be banned.

My bad! Looks like the new 2L engine cannot run on the existing quality of diesel available in our country at present. So, it remains to be seen what Mercedes is going to do here.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intern...ml#post3998089

[libranof1987]

There's some progress.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/52981652.cms

Today's HT Mumbai edition has a pic of the SIAM Director-General, Maruti Suzuki Chairman and Ford India President shown in Delhi discussing this matter so looks like there's intense lobbying going on to get this resolved. Maruti Suzuki at a meeting to discuss sale of 2l+ engines. Hmm!

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Today's HT Mumbai edition has a pic of the SIAM Director-General, Maruti Suzuki Chairman and Ford India President shown in Delhi discussing this matter so looks like there's intense lobbying going on to get this resolved.

Finally some relief for the market. Hope the SC issues a stern order to the government to tighten emission norms and also regulate conducting the PUC test.

I just hope there isn't a lobbying by MSIL.

[drmohitg]

Whatever happened to that Diesel Taxi ban in Delhi-NCR? Did that matter get resolved? I continue to see so many diesel cabs plying daily.

This private car ban needs to be lifted without adding that green cess clause. If the proposed 15-20 % tax is added to the price of these cars, then practically they are dead anyways.

[dZired]

The Supreme Court has officially announced that it might lift the currently enforced ban on sales of diesel-powered cars having an engine bigger than 2,000 cc in Delhi and NCR. But in order to do so, the court's judicial bench has suggested a one-time green cess to be levied from the buyers.

According to the SC bench that comprised of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, the added cess will inform the buyers that the vehicle they are purchasing produces more pollution than petrol-powered cars.

In order to come out with a concrete decision, the Supreme Court has asked senior lawyers, who were representing the automotive manufacturers, to ask the companies to come up with a proposal on how much cess should be levied on buying such vehicles. A final call will be taken after the automaker lobby's proposal.

On December 16 last year, the Supreme Court passed a ruling that banned sales of all diesel vehicles in Delhi NCR, which has an engine larger than 2,000 cc. Various manufacturer like Mercedes, Toyota, Mahindra and General Motors have now appealed to the apex court to withdraw the said ban.

Source: PTI

[Divya Sharan]

Originally Posted by dZired

According to the SC bench that comprised of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, the added cess will inform the buyers that the vehicle they are purchasing produces more pollution than petrol-powered cars.

What an ignorant blanket statement! All this drama to milk the buyer even more? When 3L engines pollute far far less than our national 1.3 MJD! Shame shame.

Also, why such an emphasis on comparing diesel and petrol powered cars now? Are they reducing taxes on petrol (cars)?

[VeluM]

Good news about the supreme court considering a one time green tax instead of a total ban. Better than a ban even though these vehicles will become more expensive.

15-20% is excessive, and will surely be opposed by the SIAM, although considering the low tax structure in Delhi this will be only slightly more than what they cost in other states. Unless they calculate all other taxes after adding the green tax to the ex-showroom cost!

Once implemented they can switch focus to the vehicles that actually cause most of the pollution - public transport and commercial vehicles.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Whatever happened to that Diesel Taxi ban in Delhi-NCR? Did that matter get resolved? I continue to see so many diesel cabs plying daily.

I'm not in Delhi, but afaik the owners were told to convert the vehicles to CNG in order to be allowed to ply.

All DTC buses in Delhi were converted to CNG more than a decade ago. What took them so long to enforce this for taxis? What about the private buses?

Should also switch goods vehicles to CNG, and ensure that the diesels are only used for long hauls on the highway where they can be very efficient rather than stuck in city traffic spewing soot.

[dean5545]

I knew this was coming. In my opinion the SIAM should reject this proposal as it still considers 2000cc diesel engine cars to be more polluting, which is just not the case.
Soon as the government levies this extra cess other states will follow the suit too because who doesn't want extra revenue.
Also the cess is going to be pricey at least 10% i.e. roughly how much a dealer earns per car after heavily investing in land, machinery, staff and capital investment.
If cess is applied what is the Government planning to do with that money?

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Divya Sharan

What an ignorant blanket statement! All this drama to milk the buyer even more? When 3L engines pollute far far less than our national 1.3 MJD! Shame shame.
Also, why such an emphasis on comparing diesel and petrol powered cars now? Are they reducing taxes on petrol (cars)?

Well said. I guess by a symmetrical model, anybody getting a Mercedes Blue should be entitled to a 'Green Refund'.

I reiterate, their Lordships should not poke their hloy noses in matters the know very little about. Set the standard BS-III, BS-IV, BS-VI applicable across all categories of vehicles nationwide and leave it at that. The IITK report is very clear that if need be import the fuels. At the moment the standards may be BS-III or IV for private vehicles, depending on the place of registration, while commercial vehicles are still on BS-II or something.

Maybe also issue a diktat on ensuring that fuel of the requisite grade is made available and sold (no unofficial additives) across the land.