Prakash Javadekar says it’s an act of one-upmanship

Action a knee-jerk reaction, says BJP

The Central government on Friday accused the Kejriwal administration of indulging in “one-upmanship” by issuing a notice that vehicles should have Euro VI emission standards from 2017 as part of its radical steps to curb pollution levels in the national capital.

Criticising chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar said such a measure can only be implemented with help of magic. The AAP government’s decision comes as the Centre decided to introduce Euro V and VI emission standards in vehicles in a phased manner. Currently, BS-IV auto fuels are being supplied in over 30 cities, including Delhi. The rest of the country has BS-III grade fuel.

The country will get supplies of BS-IV fuel from April 1, 2017. “We have revised the targets for introducing Euro emission standards, with the launch of BS-IV technology by 2017, BS-V by 2019 and BS-VI by 2021,” he said.

“I think this is one-upmanship. The Central government has already notified to postpone to Euro VI migration by 2021 because ultimately it is the car manufacturers who also need to be ready with the cars compliant to this norm. Today we have vehicles complying to Euro IV or III. You can’t have it (Euro VI)... It is the national government’s fuel and therefore, the Delhi government does not have its own fuel. If they have some factory and good idea to convert by some ‘jaadu’ to Euro VI — all the best,” he said in a television interview when asked if such a declaration by the state government amounted to an act of political one-upmanship. He, however, refrained from commenting on the larger decision of the state government that private vehicles bearing odd and even registration numbers will be allowed to ply only on alternate days starting January 1.

“I have not got all details of the announcement exactly... But if it is scientific we have to see. This (critical pollution levels in Delhi) is an extraordinary situation and we must respond with extraordinary solutions,” he said.

He said the Union government, while taking decisions on the environmental issues, has taken various state governments like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and others “together” because “we want all agencies to think afresh, think out of the box and come with solutions which people will also accept because it should not be back and forth.”

The Opposition parties in the city criticised Mr Kejriwal’s restrictions on plying of private vehicles in the city from next year.

Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said that the restrictions are the easiest knee-jerk reaction after the Delhi high court’s harsh comments on the pollution issue. “We are serious towards the growing pollution in the city and firmly believe that stringent measures need to be taken to curb the pollution. However, for this a composite plan needs to be made on the basis of a study,” Mr Upadhyay stated.

Congress general secretary and spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad said the Kejriwal government’s decision was aimed at cheap publicity and will cause harassment to people. “The Kejriwal government practises gimmickry for cheap publicity. This is not practical and will harass the common man,” he said.

The measures were welcomed by the city’s mayors, who had reservations over the decision to shut down parking over traffic obstructions.

The South Delhi mayor Subhash Arya said that growing pollution is everyone’s concern and the municipal corporations will extend their help without causing any hindrance in the implementation of the decisions.

He, however, said if the Delhi government “shuts down any parking lot it should compensate the revenue loss or provide alternative parking facility.”

Many parking areas in East Delhi Municipal Corporation were closed down after National Green Tribunal order. Now, if the government decides to close any other parkings then it should also provide an “alternate solution,” East Delhi mayor Harshdeep Malhotra said.