Metro Cities to get BS-VI compliant fuel by March 2020

A lot has been said and done about the pollution in India and now, the government has decided to introduce the EURO VI emission norms in place of the current Bharat Stage III norms for all petrol and diesel vehicles. The leap will be completed by March 31, 2020, and the oil companies are investing Rs. 28,750 crore for it.

As per the Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari, BS-VI compliant fuel will be made available to the metro cities much before the said date and Delhi will be given topmost priority in the plan. This will help to cut down the pollution level in the national capital followed by the other metro cities.

On January 6, 2016, a group of ministers headed by Gadkari took the decision for the implementation of EURO VI (in India is named as Bharat Stage VI) norms in the next four years. This means the EURO V norms will be skipped completely. After the meeting, one of the government officials has stated, “Studies have suggested that the pollution caused by two-wheelers is very high in cities such as Delhi. While we support the industry as it is a vehicle for middle-income groups, two wheelers need to comply with stricter emission norms”.

According to the Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari, “I want to work seriously for Delhi especially with regard to minimising its high pollution levels. We have already announced to implement EURO VI emission norms for vehicles from April 1, 2020. Now we are thinking to provide EURO VI compliant fuel in metro cities with top priority to Delhi very soon.”

Presently, in India, BS-III (Bharat Stage III) are in place which is equivalent to the EURO III emission used globally, but some of the major cities have already enforced the EURO IV emission norms. As per the plan, BS IV compliant fuel will be supplied to the major cities by April this year followed by rest of the cities by April 2017.