Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   Delhi could ban 1 million diesel vehicles to curb pollution (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/254391-delhi-could-ban-1-million-diesel-vehicles-curb-pollution-18.html)

The ban is now revoked. BS3 Petrol and BS4 Diesel cars are no longer banned on Delhi roads.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/no-m...n-dips-4614376

What about rest of NCR. Is ban lifted there too?

Edit- article mentions it briefly but will still like to check as Haryana govt does things differently from Delhi.

GRAP III restrictions have been reintroduced in Delhi NCR.

Use of BS4 diesel and BS3 petrol cars is banned.
Ban on all private construction, demolition and fabrication/welding activities also imposed.

Such senseless decisions taken again and again. Had planned a trip to Agra for Christmas and now looking for Cab options as a PUC passed A4 Diesel is banned again. :Frustrati

Delhi is sometimes a hellhole and the NCR region is equally bad. Living next door in Gurugram I also see it here. In fact the PUC is available without a check in many places. So I think this is not a bad option. Politically raising the price of Diesel above petrol (UK, Germany etc already have it) is a no go. So banning Diesel vehicles is something I support. There is talk of putting a surcharge on diesel vehicles under consideration.

State governments are resisting fuels under GST. After GST their main places for raising additional revenues are Fuel and Alc....l. Today petrol is costlier in Delhi than Haryana or UP.

Yet again, if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If pollution certificates are not authentic, shouldn't that be enforced? But no, it is easier to ban vehicles.

Sorry to be blunt and no offense but wondering why people in NCR keep buying diesel cars, knowing well the situation and recurrent bans. Leaving aside the cost savings, won't the peace of mind by going for petrol cars be worth more than the inconveniences of owning diesel cars? Specially if someone can afford a Germal luxury then I'm sure that person won't mind or feel the difference in savings between the fuel choices.

It would be better to ask why the people in NCR keep buying IC engine cars as I expect a BHPian to decide based on fact. Fact is most of petrol cars are equally polluting and hence just diesel car ban is not a solution.
So why diesel?
When country is so much dependent on crude oil imports, don’t you think it make sense to use more fuel efficient engines and fuel to get best out of each barrel of oil we buy. Ok, I support that there should be no compromise on Pollution (read health) but than why only people of NCR take the whole burden of reducing pollution, the nearby states also have to do their bit. Whole India need to do their part. So ban all IC engine private car is best solutions. Are we ready for it. Since I also equated pollution equals health, what about public health infrastructure, they need push too. In short private cars are easy scrape-goat and it’s win-win for policy maker, auto-maker scrapping diesel cars. I am not going to fall for it.

The price of Lithium batteries continues to drop and now good quantity of Lithium been found in India the future of EVs is rosy. Tata are investing GBP 4 billions in a battery plant in the UK. So we can see the future, but that will take time. So we may consider the tightening of norms as an intermediate measure. Auto industry is notoriously slow to change. The annual problem is primarily due to 'parali' burning.

Fortunately or unfortunately, southern states do not have extreme level of air pollution so may not be in the eye of the govt ban on diesel. I'm no expert on the NCR situation and whether vehicular pollution is major factor or not. I recall dialogue from hindi movie Dabang "we can't stop rain but we can use umbrella to avoid getting wet". Govt ban is here to stay and if a common man can't control the decision then he or she can definitely take precaution accordingly to prevent inconvenience (by going for better choice of fuel or even EV).

I am a BSIV Diesel car and have a few questions and comments:

What is the impact of banning BSIV Diesel vehicles on pollution levels? How much of pollution is reduced? I have never seen any data. In the absence of proper data, this feels like a knee jerk reaction. They want to show that they are doing something. If they really want to make an impact, then 2 wheelers should be banned. They are a bigger polluter (in total). But since the transport infrastructure won't be able to handle this, so, these policy makers take the easier option out.

If the government has taken tax and has allowed me to run the vehicle for 10 years in the NCR, why do they keep banning it? These politicians do not think twice about the inconvenience caused to the general tax payers.

When I bought my S Cross Diesel in 2019, then S Cross did not have a Petrol version. Also, in 2019, this concept of bans was not in place. This only started last year. I knew about the possibility of off even and the 10 year limit, but this ban was not known. There are many of us in the same boat - who cannot afford a German luxury.

I will need to run my car for at least 5 more years and will need to live through this nonsense. Not many of us have the money to change cars every 5 years.

Generally, I haven’t traveled to India in winters and this time last week I was in Delhi and had the firsthand experience of the pollution. As soon as we were about to land at Delhi, the aircraft cabin got filled with an obnoxious smell and the guy sitting adjacent to us said "Welcome to Delhi". And I guess the aircrafts have HEPA filters. The AQI levels showing at the road junctions were alarmingly high (around 400), felt like a toxic gas chamber. The next few days were followed with red eyes and itchy throat till I left the city.

Coming from Oil and Gas industry we monitor the exhaust gasses/flue gasses from all the stacks at DCS, as its one of the environmental KPI's and is being regulated by the highest authorities and stringent environmental norms.

Now coming to the Question of Parali burning, if government/administration has actually found out this as the "Root cause" of the problems and is really serious, then why don’t they install few incinerators with stacks high enough, at various locations for controlled burning. Why they even allow such uncontrolled burning? Also is the wind direction always towards Delhi as soon as the Parali is being burnt? It feels something is not adding up for the "Root Cause" or the administration ain't serious enough to resolve the re-occurring issue.

However, I feel hammering the car owners, banning cars is only solution to the symptom rather than treating the disease without backing it up with a substantial data.

Just a clarification that parali burning is burning the remains of paddy plant in-situ after the fruit portion is harvested. This is to avoid hassle of cutting waste product as cutting requires time and money. If one could cut the burning would not be required and infact waste can be cut into animal fodder (Bhussa) Old days when harvesting was manual, plants were cuts as low as possible so only root remained in the field which could be ploughed without removing. Some culture even uprooted the entire plant making field all clear. Modern age machines harvest only the top portion just to catch the fruit portion so waste is minimal.

Today the cost of fodder is less than cost of removing the waste and fodders are still in abundance or number of household animal (cow, buffalos) have decreased and dairies and professionals anyway buy the fodders .

There is no denying that there should be stricter measures on stubble burning. However, from what I gather from news reports from the ground, it is easier said than done. I have read news about farmers forcing the law enforcement officer to help them with burning the stubble instead of listening to the guidelines. Haryana and Punjab farmers are mostly well to do and with muscle power. They may give two hoots to any poor govt chap trying to convince them (obviously hopelessly) to not burn the stubble. Without strong govt backing and stringent laws, no officer would like to be on the wrong side of such villagers and risk his or her life for sake of stubble.

Easier to say such things than being in shoes of people who are actually facing the problems. Especially those with BSIV diesel as BS3 petrol cars are comparatively less. BS IV diesel cars were sold till 2020 and such bans were unheard of that time. Odd even had happened that time so the only criteria while buying the second car was to have odd if you have even and vice versa. Myself bought an A4 Diesel in 2018 and didn’t get petrol because the it was ONLY 1.4, while the 2.0 diesel is still a gem of an engine. But do you think banning a well maintained A4 because it causes more pollution than newer cars is a sensible decision? The PUC test I get done annually shows the pollution is at around 10% of permissible limit.

My second car is an EV which I at times regret buying when I have plans for a long drive and this stupid ban comes in place like it happened last week. Had it been a petrol or diesel car I would have been much more comfortable taking it on longer drives. I know people take EVs to long drives as well but I don’t want to get in the hassle of planning my stops according to chargers and driving it on 70-80 to get better range on roads where 90-100 is legal.