Much has been spoken and written about the judiciary’s ‘arbitrary’ ban on diesel cars and SUVs with engine capacity of over 2000cc; these cannot be sold in Delhi and the NCR. But this ban may not have been necessary had the government shown seriousness about introducing a vehicle scrappage scheme.

With Bharat Stage IV emission norms introduced in Delhi and the NCR as early as April 2010 and the entire country expected to be covered by April 2017, enough time was available to take a long-term view on pollution control and bring out a comprehensive scrappage scheme for older and more polluting vehicles.

The first we heard about it was in August 2015, when the transport minister at a conference declared that the government was working on a ‘cash for clunkers’ scheme. The scrappage scheme was one of the big budget expectations of the auto sector this year. After all, it would also have helped boost new vehicles sales. But that has not seen the light of day.

Even as the plans to leap forward to BS VI by 2020 may provide some solace, unless older and more polluting vehicles are pulled off the roads, it may not lead to a tangible improvement in air quality. The inconclusive impact of the odd-even experiment on pollution levels stands testimony to this.

To its credit, the Centre did deregulate diesel prices. It also introduced a higher infrastructure cess on diesel vehicles in this year’s budget. But scrappage measures would help make air cleaner in other parts of the country too. Banning older vehicles is also what the National Green Tribunal has been batting for. And, at a time, when we are promoting Make In India, auto makers who already have India as an important manufacturing hub, would also not be forced to rethink their strategy because of arbitrary bans on new vehicles that are less polluting.

Chief Research Analyst

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW