The Supreme Court (SC) has announced to implement Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) fuel in 13 Metro Cities by April 1, 2019. The Supreme Court has mentioned the central government to discuss with the Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs) and get the response concerning this proposal.
Dharmendra Pradhan, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister had said earlier, "We plan to launch BS-VI compliant fuel by April 2020". Previously the top court has stricken a ban on all BS-III vehicles, further, it results in a big shock to the automobile manufacturers because they were occupying an inventory pricing Rs. 12,000 Crore. The deadline to take off all the vehicles from the road was March 31, 2018.
With the increasing pollution level in Delhi up to alarming levels, the Petroleum Ministry had planned to prepone the implementation of BS-VI grade auto fuels particularly in Delhi National Capital Territory (NCT) starting from April 1, 2018, rather than April 1, 2020, as decided earlier.
Read also: What is BS III? And Why Supreme Court Banned Non-BS-IV Compliant Two-Wheelers in India?
This move is assumed to remove the issue of air pollution in National Capital Territory (NCT) Delhi and nearby areas by eliminating emissions caused by vehicles and enhancing fuel efficiency. The Minister said, "The decision to leapfrog directly from BS-IV to BS-VI is also in line with the Prime Minister\'s commitment to @COP21 to voluntarily cut our carbon emissions."