Vehicular pollution to hit generations: SC

Vehicular pollution to hit generations: SC

Context:

• The Supreme observed that vehicular pollution would have an impact not only on the present generation but also on the children yet to be born.

Government enquiry:

• The government directed the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) to file an affidavit indicating the position as regards the availability of Bharat Stage (BS)-VI emission standard compliant fuel in Delhi.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been asked whether any study was conducted on environmental pollution, its effect on the health of people and the cost to deal with it.

BS-VI:

• BS-VI emission standard is scheduled to come into force from April 1, 2020 across the country.
• The BS-VI norms should be made applicable in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) from April 1, 2019.
• Cars which were not BS-VI compliant should not be allowed to be registered after the new norms came into effect.