The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Instruments not ready, deadline for pollution norms extended

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Instruments not ready, deadline for pollution norms extended

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, OCT. 25. In just over two months from now, your Euro-2 car's permissible level of carbon monoxide (CO) emission has to be 0.05 per cent. In other words, more sophisticated equipment, called Four Gas Analysers, will check your vehicles' exhaust gases for CO and hydrocarbons.

There's nothing much to worry though. New Euro-2 vehicles conform to this limit though the current permissible limit is 3 per cent (for CO). The testing methods remain the same — in case of petrol vehicles idling gas output will be taken while for diesel vehicles free acceleration smoke is measured.

All this will happen if the upgraded Pollution Under Control (PUC) norms for automobiles come into force. Officials here expect the norms to be implemented in about two months time.

Though the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notified the in-use emissions norms in February 2004 and set an October 1, 2004 deadline, officials say lack of approved instruments for measurement has led to the postponement.

A State Government official said Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra postponed the implementation by two-four months.

In Tamil Nadu, manufacturers of the advanced instruments had not yet got approval from the Pune-based, government-authorised certification agency, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

State Pollution Control Board officials said only four of the 25 manufacturers in the country were approved by the ARAI. ``None of these four companies has any presence in the State,'' the official said. The State Government officials had their limitations in `pushing' private firms to seek ARAI certification.

`Reluctant to invest'

It is not that the manufactures alone have been found wanting. There is also some reluctance on the part of the PUC operators to invest in new instruments because of the cost factor. The officials said the operators were in favour of a hike in testing fee and for further strengthening checks on private vehicles. While public transport vehicles had to get pollution check done before seeking the fitness certificate from the Transport department, this was not so for private vehicles. ``Though the testing is mandatory, it is only voluntary. There is a provision to levy a fine in case of non-compliance, but enforcement is handled by the police, over whom we have no control,'' says an official.

Under the new norms, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons will be measured in petrol vehicles and smoke in diesel vehicles. The measurements will add correction factors to ensure the reliability of tests. For the first time the PUC norms have `caught up' with the technology levels of the petrol vehicles. Hence, there will be different tests for pre and post Euro-I-compliant vehicles.

The testing instruments, Two Gas Analysers, now in use in testing centres, are not accurate to measure the lower limits fixed for post Euro-I vehicles. Therefore, these will have to be replaced with advanced Four Gas analysers. Similarly, smoke meters will have to be upgraded for diesel vehicles.

`A chance lost'

The Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, said that as the State Governments failed to crack the whip in time, the PUC operators failed to place orders for new instruments. The manufacturers, in turn, failed to supply adequate numbers of instruments on time. As a result, even this small chance of revamping the ineffective vehicle inspection programme — that came after 12 long years — was, the CSE said.

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