The country’s oil retailers will begin supplying Euro-IV compliant auto fuel in 13 cities from the targeted April 1. The sale of fuel compliant with Euro-III norms in rest of the country will be done in a phased manner between April 1 and October 1.
“We have decided to go for meeting the April-1 deadline for Euro-IV fuels in 13 cities. But for a country like India, it is difficult to make Euro-III fuels available everywhere on day one, so it will be done in phases by October,” Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said today.
The introduction of cleaner auto fuel is aimed at reducing environmentally harmful emission of pollutants like sulphur and benzene.
According to the government’s policy, petrol and diesel meeting Euro-IV standards are to be supplied in 13 cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad from April 1. The Euro-III grade of fuel is to be supplied across the rest of the country from the same day.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today convened a meeting with various stakeholders to review the implementation of the sale of cleaner fuel, as some refineries have been facing slippages in meeting the deadline.
Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said the ministry would finalise the plan for rolling out Euro-III compliant auto fuel by February 15. Private retailers like Reliance Industries Ltd and Essar Oil also agreed to start selling cleaner auto fuel through their retail outlets from April, Pandey said.
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State-owned oil retailers like Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation are investing around Rs 23,500 crore in upgrading their refineries to meet the demand for cleaner fuel.
“Such upgrading requires massive investments and the scope of work is huge. It is not easy to roll out such a programme on a single day,” IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria said after today’s meeting.