CSE asks FM to rein in diesel car manufacturing

New Delhi, Feb 18 (UNI) Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has asked the finance ministry not to buckle down under pressure from the auto industry by giving more tax sops in the forthcoming Union Budget or letting them expand the polluting diesel car fleet.

CSE's missive to Finance Minister P Chidambaram warned that India could see a worsening of the energy crisis if urgent tax corrections in the Union Budget were not introduced to avert oil guzzling, dieselisation and more pollution.

''Almost all the petrol used in the country is consumed by private vehicles, which also accounts for consumption of 62 per cent of the diesel in the transport sector. More and more vehicle manufacturers are introducing diesel variants,'' it said based on its research.

CSE was concerned that the car industry, in the meantime, was taking advantage of the tax concession for small cars allowed in the last budget to sell more diesel cars. The more relaxed limit for defining a small diesel car had increased diesel car sales and toxic pollution phenomenally.

''Discourage diesel cars without efficiency and clean emissions standards. The car industry is pushing diesel cars in the name of fuel-efficiency but these cars are several times more polluting than petrol cars. India's most popular small diesel car is more than 20-30 per cent less fuel-efficient and 50 per cent more polluting than its counterparts in Europe,'' it said.

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