Himachal govt makes Bharat Stage-IV emission norms mandatory from April 1

Bharat Stage-IV emission norms has been made mandatory by the Himachal government and only BS-IV compliant four-wheelers would be allowed registration in the state from April 1 onwards, a minister said on Friday.   

The Mass Emission Standard for Bharat Stage-IV has been made mandatory in Himachal and only those new four wheelers which are compliant with the BS-IV standards, will beregistered and allowed to ply on roads in Himachal from April1, 2017, Transport Minister G S Bali said. 

Bali said that this will prove as a milestone in checking the pollution and further reduce carbon emissions which were much less in BS IV fuel compared to BS-III fuel.     

As of now, sufficient stock of BS-IV compliant petroleum fuel was available in the State. Bali said that after the amendment of Rule 115 of Centre Motor Vehicle Rules 1989, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued a notification on August 19, 2015 making Mass Emission Standard Bharat Stage IV as mandatory in most of the states including Himachal Pradesh and districts of some states.     

As per this notification, the four wheeled vehicles manufactured on or after the October 1, 2015 shall comply with BS-IV emission norms but this shall not be applicable to four-wheeled transport vehicle plying on interstate permit or national permit or all India tourist permit.     

Bali said people should purchase only BS-IV vehicles, ashenceforth only such vehicles will be registered in the state. Any influence of the dealers/manufactured four wheeled vehicles, who insists to purchase BS-III vehicles, should be strictly avoided.      

He said it is a major step towards making the statepollution free as envisaged by the National Green Tribunal through its various judgments.   Bali also announced release of Rs 19.26 crore for paymentof pension to 4922 retired HRTC employees for the months of December 2016 and January 2017 and said that pension for remaining months would also be released soon.