Cabinet okays auto fuel policy

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Friday cleared the auto fuel policy for the country based on the recommendations of the Dr RA Mashelkar Committee.
The panel had formulated a roadmap for vehicular emission norms (Bharat 11) to be effective from April 1, ’05 and Euro III to come into effect from April 1, ''10.
The autofuel policy, apart from stressing the development of alternative fuels and alternative technologies, has some recommendations that can become controversial.
To reduce the sulphur content of fuel, tens of thousands of crore worth of investment has to be made in refineries, which will increase the cost of fuel. Rising fuel costs have always been a politically sensitive matter.
Further, the policy stresses emission norms rather than specifying which fuel to use. Depending on how this provision is interpreted, there could be scope for litigation in places such as Delhi where diesel has been banned as a fuel for public transport and CNG has been mandated instead.
The finance ministry has not supported the fiscal concessions asked for to make new fuels and technologies viable.