International emission standard fuel to be available in Delhi: Govt to SC

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that BS-6 fuel, which will have international emission standards, would be available in the capital from April this year and this would considerably reduce the air pollution level.

Counsel for the Centre made this submission before a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta hearing the Delhi air pollution case. 

However, counsel for the automobile industry disputed this and submitted that BS 6 fuel may not available all over Delhi but only in few petrol bunks. 

Counsel said they are equally worried about pollution and working with oil companies on fuel quality.  

"We don’t want tag of making polluting vehicles," they said.

The Bench then asked the Centre to file an affidavit on the status of BS 6 fuel availability in Delhi and the timeline within which it will be made available across the national capital territory region. 

The Centre told the court that Bhawana power plant unit 1 would be fully operational from March. It is a gas-based plant now working at only 20% capacity. Coal-based Dadri plant may be close down.

Justice Lokur quoted Amitabh Bachan on his advertisements appearing on TV and said, “Amitabh Bachan has been coming daily on TV as part of Swach Bharat programme to say that 13 most polluted cities in the world are in India.  This is a Government advertisement and the Government is admitting the problem It shouldn’t be a case of too little and too late. It should not be that all your health programmes go haywire if people continue to fall sick."

The Bench observed Bhawana power plant in Delhi is emitting very low on pollution as it was working only on 20 per cent capacity. 

On the Ministry of Environment and Forests junking foreign studies on pollution and health, Justice Lokur observed “Just to say that they are useless because they are foreigners is not a responsible statement. The same can be said about foreign lawyers and judges as well. 

The Bench said, “the impact of pollution is felt on children who are already born and who are going to be born and we are seeking this in our lifetime.”