Fuel economy standards for cars get PMO green signal

NEW DELHI: The government has finally decided to implement auto fuel economy standards. After a year of wrangling between the heavy industries, surface transport and power ministries, the PMO has decided that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will formulate the norms and notify them under the Energy Conservation Act while the surface transport ministry will ensure its implementation.

The norms will be developed on the basis of mileage that petrol and diesel vehicles give, sources in
the road transport and highway ministry told TOI. With the top office in the government deciding a compromise, BEE is now expected to move fast to implement labelling of vehicles in the first phase which will then be converted into mandatory standards, pushing up the mileage of cars over years just as is done in the case of appliances for energy efficiency.

But despite the top office trying to settle the debate, bickering continues at the ministerial level. Despite clear directions from PMO that BEE, under the power ministry, would formulate and notify the standards, the road transport ministry held a meeting of its emissions committee to discuss the issue again.

In the meeting, sources told TOI, while the ministry talked of the implementation part, some representatives of the auto sector continued to harp on the use of carbon dioxide as the basis of deciding the norms and demanded that it be legally put on the list of ���local pollutants���.

Climate experts in the government have previously warned that besides turning the norms too obscure for consumers to understand, using carbon dioxide as a measure would also jeopardise India���s stand at international climate meet.