[Eddy]

Source : Hindustan Times, Delhi edition 24 August.

Just as I was planning to book my Swift VDI this week, I see this in the morning newspapers.

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Diesel? Hold those horses

Harish V. Nair
New Delhi

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IF YOU have made up your mind to buy a diesel car to save money on fuel, a better idea would be to wait for a while.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Transport Department to explore the possibility of gradual phasing out pollution-causing diesel cars from Delhi and make it mandatory for them to convert to CNG.

A Division Bench comprising of Justices Mukul Mudgal and Rewa Khetrapal observed that allowing diesel cars to ply on the Capital's roads negated the very purpose of the 1998 Supreme Court order, directing conversion of all diesel buses to CNG.

"When the apex court ordered the phase out of diesel buses to replace them with CNG-filled ones, the intention was to provide clean air to Delhites. What is the point if the diesel cars are continuing to pollute the city's air?" the Bench asked the Delhi Government counsel Mukta Gupta.

The court made the observations when the Bench was informed by the amicus curiea in the case that as per a study, emission from three diesel cars were causing pollution equivalent to one diesel bus.

Justice Mudgal said the situation required "urgent attention" when Gupta told the court that as per the State Transport Authority statistics, 45, 000 more diesel cars were added to the city's roads in the last two years. The government has been asked to study the effect of registration of more diesel cars on the pollution level.

In response to the court's observations, Gupta submitted that a ban on diesel cars and stopping registration of new diesel cars will be only possible after amendment of the Motor Vehicles Act.
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Team, any views on this ? Will this be taken seriously ?

[amtak]

As far as I know, the Diesel vehicles pollute less if maintained properly. In case of petrol vehciles, the smoke is not visible but they are more dangerous. The order was for the vehicles that were poorly maintained and used to pollute a lot.

[mail4ajo]

I seriously think this will not apply to CRDi engines which are much less polluting than the old school diesels.

Our CRDi cars are EuroIII compliant right? So why should Delhi only have a problem? I heard that last year diesels outsold petrol in Europe........

[benbsb29]

I dont think this is going to apply to the new CRDIs.

@Eddy, new Swift D? So, bye to the Flair, is it?

[dadu]

Only EuroIII compliant new cars are registered in Delhi irrespective of the being diesel, petrol, CNG or run on water.

By 2010 it will be EuroIV, so that is what matters, Emmission Norms and not 3 diesel cars = 1 diesel bus or 6 petrol cars = 1 diesel bus, this way time will come wherein no private vehicles will be allowed to run in delhi.

They should phase out ALL old vehicles(diesel or petrol) not meeting emmission norms and thats the solution to keep pollution levels low/under control.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

I dont think this is going to apply to the new CRDIs.

@Eddy, new Swift D? So, bye to the Flair, is it?

Na na.

Swift D will be my own personal car

Flair is the family car with a great back seat

[abhilashvk]

Diesel is a clean fuel. Among the five main pollutants like CO, NO etc diesel pollutes the least in the most dangerous ones (carbon monoxide the most dangerous which is not visible to naked eye). It is high on SPM which is the least dangerous in the list. Two-wheelers pollute 4 to 6 times than a regular transport bus.

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by dadu

Only EuroIII compliant new cars are registered in Delhi irrespective of the being diesel, petrol, CNG or run on water.

By 2010 it will be EuroIV, so that is what matters, Emmission Norms and not 3 diesel cars = 1 diesel bus or 6 petrol cars = 1 diesel bus, this way time will come wherein no private vehicles will be allowed to run in delhi.

They should phase out ALL old vehicles(diesel or petrol) not meeting emmission norms and thats the solution to keep pollution levels low/under control.

Agree!

and they should apply the same rule everywhere not just in delhi.

If they get a stringent rule am sure there will be 60-70% less vehilces on the roads and 90% less of autos for sure

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

If they get a stringent rule am sure there will be 60-70% less vehilces on the roads and 90% less of autos for sure

There was an article in the TOI wherein they mentioned that they were sanctioning about 2000 more autos to run in Bangalore. Added mayhem.

[dadu]

They always do it in a phased manner when they bring in the emmission norms, first metro/tier1 cities then spread across.

But the problem is that they do not have a rule in place to phase out very old vehicles, like more than 20-30 years old and they still continue running on every road across India. (remember the truckers strike few months back ??)

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Agree!

and they should apply the same rule everywhere not just in delhi.

If they get a stringent rule am sure there will be 60-70% less vehilces on the roads and 90% less of autos for sure

[Eddy]

I agree with you all that Diesel is a cleaner fuel. Lets hope that the powers to be also are of the same opinion

[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

2000 more autos to run in Bangalore. Added mayhem.

It is not 2000, it is 7000. As if the present ones were not enough!

I agree that modern diesel vehicles are less pollutant as compared to the older vehicles. As already pointed out, it will be better to phase out older vehicles, be it either petrol or diesel.

[benbsb29]

OFF-TOPIC :
Deepak, there were actually 7000 which were to be sanctioned, but for some reason, 2000 among them werent. Now, these would be sanctioned. 7000 was the actual initial figure.

[reignofchaos]

They should probably phase out the judge who passed the order.

[Eddy]

Its the last sentence of the article that will have impact(?) on new diesel cars