Come 2027 and a big part of India may go the Delhi way, yanking diesel vehicles off the roads. The Energy Transition Advisory Committee set up by the Centre has suggested as much. If its recommendation is accepted, we could see diesel cars kept off the streets in cities with more than 1 million people. That’s not just India’s metros, but also many other urban centres. It could hasten our transition away from fossil fuels, no doubt, and given the climate crisis at hand, an urgency to do away with dirty fuels may be warranted too.
But any such drastic change must always be well planned. Auto-makers have spent huge amounts to adapt products to BS 6 emission norms, and an abrupt end to diesel product lines could render much of that pointless. Users, too, may be left with vehicles banned long before they turn old, even as an impending ban drives away resale buyers in our big cities. Further, the commercial vehicles sector could also get hit, with public transport systems at risk of suffering shortfalls if greener alternatives do not fill the vacuum in time. Clearly, the impact of such a ban must be thought through carefully. And widely debated.
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