Government is committed to supplying Euro VI compliant fuel which will be at par with international standards, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
"Euro VI fuel will be supplied by the Petroleum Ministry complying to international norms," Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari told PTI.
Dismissing any apprehensions of diluting the fuel standards as false, the minister said government is making sure that "whatever standards have been fixed in the world for Euro VI, will be supplied here."
Automobile industry body Siam had recently criticised the BS VI fuel standards announced in the draft notification by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, saying it was diluted.
Siam alleged that BS VI fuel norms in the draft is "inferior" to Euro VI norms.
Terming the allegations "false" the minister said petroleum refineries were making a huge investment to supply Euro VI compliant fuel, which will minimise pollution that has become a big problem.
The government had earlier estimated that refineries in the country will invest about Rs 30,000 crore to upgrade to the Euro VI fuel standards.
Siam has demanded "exactly the same BS VI fuel as per Euro 6 fuel standards prevalent in Europe if it has to meet the BS VI norms for vehicles", saying "this requirement for the country should be non-negotiable".
Earlier, refusing to budge under pressure from auto industry on stricter fuel emission norms, Gadkari has said carmakers must follow the same standards in India that they do elsewhere.
"I do not agree with Siam. When the same car manufacturer can build cars following the same norms across the globe, then why can't they build it here? The government is not reconsidering its decision," Gadkari has told SIAM on their request to reconsider the decision to leapfrog to BS VI norms.
In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the government in January decided to implement stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from April 1, 2020 by skipping BS-V altogether.
At present, BS IV norms are followed in parts of India and by April 1, 2017, the whole of the country is scheduled to be covered under it.
The decision to leapfrog to BS-VI was taken at an inter- ministerial meeting chaired by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, which was attended by Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
In the commercial capital of the US, Gadkari will also
have a series of interactions with investors at the meets organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs and US Indian Business Council.
"Some of these interactions will be a follow up of the deliberations at the Maritime India Summit in Mumbai where a large number of US companies had evinced keen interest in promoting bilateral cooperation with India in Maritime sector," the statement said.
Gadkari will invite US companies for technology cooperation in road and highway building, road engineering, innovations in automobile sector, road safety and green fuels.
Gadkari will also visit St Louis to understand Inland Waterways System on world famous Mississippi River by undertaking a boat trip.
On the next leg of his visit to San Francisco, he will have talks with senior officials from the California Transportation Agency, and departments of International Affairs and business development.
He will also visit Tesla, manufacturers of electric cars, and hold a meeting with investors and interact with TiE Charter members over dinner.
TiE is a global organisation of entrepreneurs with over 12,000 members. He will also have interactions with and visit Oracle and Bloom Energy.
More than 150 projects were identified under the ambitious Sagarmala Programme at the recent Maritime India Summit in Mumbai.
India has 7,500 km long coastline, 212 ports, 70 coastal districts, one billion tone cargo handling currently, 111 waterways and 90 per cent of export-import trade (by volume) handled at ports.
