In sync with its commitment to reduce India’s carbon footprint and tackle the problem of increasing pollution levels, the government on Tuesday said it has come up with guidelines requiring manufacturers to declare the emission and noise levels of vehicles made by them.
The new norm has been brought in through an amendment in the Central Motor Vehicle Act and will come into effect from 1 April 2017.
The amended rule as per the revised form 22 will apply to all vehicles running on petrol, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, electric, diesel as well as e-rickshaws and e-carts.
According to June report by the World Health Organization, half of the world’s most polluted cities are in India, including the capital city of New Delhi.
“Through a recent notification, the ministry of road transport and highways has amended form 22 under the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1989, through which manufacturers provide the initial certificate of compliance with pollution standards, safety standards of components quality and road-worthiness certificate for all vehicles,” noted a statement issued by the roads and surface transportation ministry on Tuesday.
As per the new norms, form 22 will be issued with the signature of the manufacturer and in the case of e-rickshaws and e-carts, this form will be issued by an authorised signatory of registered e-rickshaw or e-cart association.
Till now, the form only certified if a vehicle in question complied with provisions of the Act including emission norms under Bharat Stage I, II and III.
Bharat Stage is emission standards instituted by the government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
According to the government statement, the form will include the brand, chassis number, engine number (motor number, in case of battery operated vehicles) and emission norms (Bharat Stage), and specify the levels of each pollutant such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and other pollutants for petrol and diesel vehicles. It will also have to specify the sound level from horn and pass-by noise values.
According to Ramakant Vidwans, an expert, controlling noise pollution and vehicle emission is the need of the hour.
“Noise and vehicle emission have to be controlled, particularly in cities, which will lead to a reduction which will definitely have a positive impact,” added Vidwans, who is also a member of the committee headed by S.R. Tambe to help the government improve road construction in the country.
Source: Infracircle (India)