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THE interim report of the Mashelkar Committee on Auto Fuel Policy and the road map for its implementation appear differently to different groups: To the greens, the report appears red; to the others it is green. In truth, it is amber. Framing a comprehensive automobile fuel policy to keep down air pollution by vehicular emission is a challenging task for any country, large or small, developed or developing. A one-size-fit-all approach is impossible given that the spread of vehicle types, their numerical and spatial distribution, age profiles, patterns of fuel consumption, inspection and maintenance procedures and traffic conditions differ from country to country. India — , with its diverse modes of public and private transport vehicles, automobile concentration in some centres, the predominant diesel orientation of fuel use, poor traffic management and poorer roads — is unique in most respects from others. However, one thing common is the limited availability of resources, financial and otherwise, to any objective, however laudable, in a given timeframe. It is against this backdrop that any call for public action has to be made in India, reducing air pollution included.

TheMashelkar Committee was asked to consider the recommendations of earlier panels on the subject and, more importantly, the status of technologies to reduce vehicular emission, current and projected availability of appropriate fuels and the cost of implementation of the policy. Quite clearly, its mandate was not to recommend measures to ensure zero pollution regardless of cost, though from the greens' point of view that would be most welcome. The Committee has rightly addressed itself to devising a phased approach to reach the prescribed ambient air quality standards. Its schedule envisages introduction of Bharat Stage III emission norms ( akin to Euro Stage III standards) for all new vehicles in the seven pollution-high mega cities (cities with a population of more than four million) by 2005 and in the rest of the country by 2010. This itself is a formidable task given that three of the seven mega cities — Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad — are yet to achieve the less stringent Bharat Stage II and the rest of the country even the least strict Stage I. No less daunting is the task of putting in place enforcement measures. The cost to refineries and automobile manufacturers has been estimated at a staggering Rs 60,000 crore. The gains in terms of clean air would, according to calculations, be not very commensurate as one moves from Stage II to Stage III because there are other equally significant sources of urban air pollution. Hence, to ask for more radical measures would be to turn away from reality.

Whatprobably has irked some environmentalists are the Committee's somewhat dim view of the utility of prescribing the use of compressed natural nas (CNG) and its acceptance of the principle that it is better to lay down emission and fuel quality norms and leave the vehicle technologies to the manufacturers and the market. CNG is a lot cleaner than the fossil fuels but its indigenous availability poses a problem. So do its transportation and distribution even if it were to be imported. A recent World Bank study on use of CNG in automobiles in Asia offers mixed results. The principle of prescribing only emission and fuel norms, and adopting a multifuel policy instead of specifying the actual fuels to be used in any particular class or classes of vehicles, makes abundant sense. Principles of economics apply as much to automobiles as do principles of chemical thermodynamics.

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