Prakash Javadekar: Diesel vehicles to face strict pollution control norms

NEW DELHI: The environment ministry plans to impose stringent pollution control norms for diesel vehicles to combat rising pollution in the country, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Javadekar made a pitch for tough norms while addressing a conference on sustainability organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, whose members include top energy companies and auto majors such as Maruti, Tata, Mahindra, Ford, among others.

The minister said that the vehicular population of the country has more than doubled in the last 10 years, and was expected to keep rising, making it necessary to tighten the environmental norms.

“While initial norms for diesel vehicles were less stringent, now the price differential between petrol and diesel is gone,” the minister said.