Good move to improve air quality
The Supreme Court has directed transport authorities to
stop registering vehicles that do not meet Bharat Stage-IV emission standards
from April 1. Short-term economic considerations cannot supersede public health
concerns. Some automobile companies will now have to deal with unsold
inventories of the obsolete models. The 2017 deadline for a nationwide shift to
BS-IV is a good movie.
The court’s order means that a little over eight lakh BS-III
vehicles will have to be either upgraded or sold abroad. This is a small fraction of the 19 crore
vehicles on Indian roads today. So
can the court’s order have a significant impact on reducing air pollution?
According to research, 30% to 50% of total on-road emissions
came from vehicles older than 10 years, or about 17% of the fleet. Now the manufacturers
and the fuel companies must prepare for the next big deadline.
The Centre has to ensure that the objective of the Supreme
Court’s order is met, and the ‘one fuel, one country’ goal for BS-IV is
fulfilled. This is indeed
a stringent action to protect clean and pollution - free environment. It remains
to be seen whether governments of centre and states will comply or bow to the
pressure of automobile corporates.
Anyway, it is a good stand by Apex Court on health of
citizen, environment. Every industry and segment could be mandated for safety
of environment; roads; driver; citizen. Our country could experience less
accident with monitoring of speed; violation of speeding laws by erring
driver(s) in urban and rural areas; proper planning of road for safety via a mechanism
of CSR - socially responsible corporates.
Good and timely act of judiciary, against the laxity of
companies, will produce better outcomes in future (in following other rules and
regulation), if corporate sectors does not obey the rules. This will improve
the credibility of our judiciary and executives should follow each and every
deadlines and overcome their tardiness against environmental concern.
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