[invidious]

I guess Bombay follows the Delhi route. The Bombay High Court has asked the Govt to explore phasing out of petrol and diesel cars and only permit CNG and Electric cars.

My view: ridiculous because electric cars are powered by burning fossil fuel to generate electricity in India

More info -

The Bombay high court has directed the Maharashtra government to form a panel to explore the feasibility of phasing out diesel and petrol vehicles, saying automobiles choking Mumbai's roads are a major contributor to Mumbai's worsening air quality.

A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Girish Kulkarni directed the government to form a committee of experts and civil administrators within a fortnight to consider whether it will be feasible to phase out diesel -- and petrol-based vehicles from Mumbai's roads and permit only those running on CNG or electricity.

The order was passed on a public interest litigation that the HC had taken up on its own in 2023 over the city's poor Air Quality Index (AQI).

The court had heard the matter on January 9.

In its detailed order made available on Wednesday, the bench said vehicular pollution was a major contributor to worsening air quality in Mumbai.

"The roads in Mumbai Metropolitan Region are choked with vehicles and density of the vehicles on the roads is alarming, which, in result, compounds the problems relating to air pollution and makes all measures taken to mitigate the same inadequate," the court said.

It emphasised the need for a thorough study to be conducted on whether it would be 'appropriate or feasible to phase out diesel and petrol-driven vehicles'.

The bench said the committee that would be formed by the government shall conduct its study within three months and submit its report.


Source: Rediff

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by invidious

....Bombay follows the Delhi route. ...

I hope better sense prevails and there is a single nation wide policy that gives a clear timeline for any phasing out Diesel or Petrol vehicles, so that both vehicle manufacturers and consumers can plan better.

- Also phasing out should only imply stopping the production of new ICE vehicles.
- Existing ICE vehicles that are well maintained and meet the pollution regulations (enforced and stringent) should be allowed to run on our roads without any age limit.
- We cannot afford to scrap millions of well maintained ICE vehicles that are road worthy and perfectly meeting prevailing pollution norms. It is simply a huge waste of precious resources and detrimental to environment.

If they enforce region specific sporadic restrictions, it will make it very complicated for motorists who travel across our nation.

If the genuine intention is related to reducing pollution alone, there is no point in enforcing these restrictions on hapless private owners of vehicles, even commercial vehicles and government vehicles should be included in the restrictions without any exceptions.

A new random rule every other day in different parts of the nation without proper scientific analysis is bound to have an ineffective outcome.

[el lobo 6061]

Did diesel car ban result in any pollution reduction in Delhi NCR this year?

Real cause of pollution in Delhi NCR is stubble (parali) burning in neighboring states.

Any action taken on it? None.

NGT, Supreme Court and Member of Parliament in Delhi, all sleeping.

Mumbai cause of pollution is construction dust and road dust.

Any action taken? None.

What is easy?

Lets ban diesel cars above 10 years and petrol cars above 15 years with ZERO scientific reasons whatsoever.

Seems car manufacturers lobby for new sales and Govt of India need for tax money is causing this draconian law.

[fhdowntheline]

This only shows that the real estate lobby is stronger than the automobile lobby. Pune too is covered in a pall of grey dust today, but who cares? In the name of " development" all private ventures get fulfilled.

[rakesh_r]

Sometimes i feel judiciary is a joke in India.The "my-lords" are immune from such Fiats off course as they themselves would be roaming around in their Crystas with black tints.
Do these people even have any idea as to how difficult it is for an average middle class to buy a car, especially when the government is hell bent in taxing us to the core? If farmers can raise their voice and force the govt to repel the law, its high time the middle class start raising their voice.

[mayuresh]

Battery reliability, efficiency, safety, life span, disposal infrastructure, replacement cost, charging infrastructure : a combination of all these and possibly more factors has not reached a sweet spot to make such a move.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Sometimes i feel judiciary is a joke in India.The "my-lords" are immune from such Fiats off course as they themselves would be roaming around in their Crystas with black tints.
Do these people even have any idea as to how difficult it is for an average middle class to buy a car, especially when the government is hell bent in taxing us to the core? If farmers can raise their voice and force the govt to repel the law, its high time the middle class start raising their voice.

Since i couldn't edit, just to add, most of the public transport is either running on electric(BEST) or CNG (BEST, cabs and rickshaws). What more do they want? Moreover, are these people even aware of charging and gas station availability? Have these people seen the long queue in front of the CNG dispensing stations?

[GTO]

After Delhi had introduced the 10-year cap on diesel cars and 15 years on petrol cars, I knew it just had to come to Bombay and we were next. My only surprise is that it took this long !

The High Court making such statements is usually a precursor of things to come. It's one of the main reasons we have bought just 1 diesel car in the last 10 years. If any car had to be our final diesel car, might as well make it the glorious 530d with that incredible 6-cylinder diesel + 8-speed ZF. This is also one of the reasons I got a Thar Petrol instead of Diesel, despite being a Diesel Jeeper all my life.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Real cause of pollution in Delhi NCR is stubble (parali) burning in neighboring states.

There is no stubble burning in Bombay, and we are surrounded by water on all sides. Vehicles indeed are a major contributor to pollution levels here, along with construction. That being said, our AQI of 100 - 150 in the sea-facing areas is far lower than Delhi's. The problem isn't severe yet.

Banning 10-year old diesel cars is banning all the BS3 (till 2015), BS2, BS1 vehicles from Mumbai roads, along with all those from the era when there were no BS emission rules! There is a massive improvement in the exhaust emissions of a BS6 & BS4 diesel car, versus BS3 and earlier. I support this ban in Bombay , even though it will make me lose one of my most beloved cars (the '97 Mahindra Classic) and my current 2013 530d. My '97 Jeep will remain parked as a work of art inside the building, while the 12-year old 530d will be happily sold & replaced as a show of love & support for this mega city.

[SavoyWalrus]

No way this is happening in the next two decades. The automobile lobby is strong, and there are many manufacturers in Maharashtra, providing so much employment. Any state government will not allow it. Who's to say there are enough resources to power electric and CNG cars if we solely depend on them.

[Bhodrolok]

Good!

Clearly not only the people in NCR need to breathe, vehicles are a major source of pollution for cities like Bombay & Bangalore. I hope we get a plan for phasing out old diesel vehicles soon and a plan for petrol vehicles too in the next decade or so.

Air quality is an emergency in our country and it looks like only some public petitioners are the ones concerned about the issue.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by invidious

It emphasised the need for a thorough study to be conducted on whether it would be 'appropriate or feasible to phase out diesel and petrol-driven vehicles'.

It's a request for a through study to be conducted; not a decision. So we are still some way from a Delhi-type decision to come to Bombay.


But honestly speaking, Bombay will benefit from some restrictions on private vehicle. Not only air pollution, but noise pollution and congestion across the city roads are easy benefits to observe. But I hope the study does take into consideration different options

1. Putting a congestion tax on vehicles plying across the city. New York recently put this to implementation and London has been doing this for ages.

2. Higher taxes on owning a private vehicle in the city. Singapore comes to mind; but honestly there's easy pickings on this with regards to alternatives for implementation. For example - Bombay can look at pushing for single vehicle ownership; with higher tax brackets for the second car owned by a household.

3. Banning older cars. 10 (D) & 15 (P) years are what Delhi thought ideal; the numbers can vary for Bombay.


Let's see what comes out of this study and how the government takes it forward. I think this was long overdue; and probably should take place for all Indian metros - every city has very similar traffic related pollution problems (e.g. Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, etc.).

[somersault]

I am curious to know how high courts are imposing a perceived solution to a problem which is kind of non existent. I see 2 issues here.

a) Mumbai's AQI is in the range of 126-179 in the last 30 days when everyone is talking about pollution. Link - .This is not at all in the severe zone. Most of the time, the level is even lesser. The reason it is slightly high at the moment is probably because of the following. "Mumbai’s air has high moisture content, which causes aerosols to swell and get trapped in the air. This creates haze." Link -

b) The high court has already decided in their mind that banning the vehicles will reduce the pollution. I wonder if any study has been presented to this extent considering all factors.

Mumbai being a sea side city, the pollution level is generally low as everyday the wind from the sea clears the atmosphere in the city. That being said, the incessant digging on the road and then not cleaning and covering the soil and dust after the work, concretization of the roads, uncovered building constructions are all contributing to increase in PM2.5 and PM 10 dusts.

About 50 years back, they used to wash the roads by water quite regularly to settle all the dust and clean. Somewhere down the line they stopped.

Yes the traffic is increasing, but that creates a different problem of congestion and no parking space on the road. A different problem which needs to be solved.

[Storm2.0]

Note: Sarcasm intended
If this rule gets implemented in Bangalore, I'll purchase an autorickshaw and use it for my personal commute and rent it out to make money on other days. And guess what, since its an autorickshaw no authority or law of the land will apply to it with respect to it's road worthiness or contribution to pollution or following traffic rules.

[anjan_c2007]

While the Division Bench's directions appear to be well meaning, practicality needs to be given priority. You can't overnight say 'ban this' or 'ban that' when the subject of the proposed ban involves millions of residents and their well-being.

Justice D.K. Upadhyaya, is presently hearing this matter with his brother judge, Justice Girish Kulkarni. The former is presently Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and is under transfer to the Delhi High Court as Chief Justice.

[Lalvaz]

A recent Dec 2023 study shows the contributors to Mumbai's air pollution as below. Now if the Mumbai high court is really serious about reducing air pollution in the city, they need to focus on the major contributor, which is construction.

I'm willing to bet my entire life savings that they will do nothing to stop construction. Just like Delhi's GRAP does nothing to reduce air pollution in Delhi, so also pollution won't go down in Mumbai even if they ban all ICE vehicles.