The Hindu Business Line : Implementation of fuel emission norms may not be possible by deadline

PLANS for implementation of the Bharat Stage III norms for fuel emission levels in 11 cities across the country, and migration of the other cities to Bharat Stage II from April 1, appear headed for rough weather.

While the auto industry appears prepared to meet the deadline, the snag is in the inability of domestic oil refineries to cater to the expected demand of the high quality petrol and diesel required to implement these norms for motor vehicles.

According to a Government source, a high-level committee of the industry and Government met early this week and has assessed that it will not be possible for the entire country to move to Bharat Stage II norms from April as the domestic refineries are unable to fully match the expected demand for the required quality petrol and diesel.

The committee has suggested that implementation of Bharat Stage II norms for petrol vehicles in Rajasthan, Goa, Gujarat (excluding Vadodara), Madhya Pradesh and Leh/Ladakh be deferred till October. For meeting the deadline in the rest of the country, petrol imports may be necessary at least for the first five months.

While imports are an option, there are severe constraints there as well due to non-availability of the fuel in the international markets at such short notice. There are also logistical and operational problems in importing adequate quantities of petrol and diesel of the required grade.

Similarly, migration of 11 major cities — Delhi, Agra, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur and Surat — to Bharat Stage III norms for petrol vehicles may be possible only by resorting to imports. However, in this case, the committee feels that the required quantity of petrol is available in the international markets and can be imported.

Deadline for diesel to be extended by two months? Implementation of Bharat Stage III norms for diesel vehicles is likely to be delayed in five cities out of the originally planned 11. These are Agra, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Hyderabad where there is a shortfall in adequate availability of diesel of the required quality.

The shortfall cannot be substituted with imports as a tender floated by Indian Oil for 60,000 tonnes of Euro III grade diesel recently did not receive any response in the international market. Therefore, for these cities alone, the committee has suggested introduction of the Euro III diesel norms from June 2005.

The committee has found that the remaining six cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad — are in a comfortable position.

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