Ban On Diesel 4-Wheelers Likely: Diesel powered cars SUVs may be banned in the coming days. The Energy Transition Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Petroleum, in its final report, has recommended to the Central Government to ban diesel-powered cars-SUVs by 2027 in cities with a population of more than one million (1 million).
The report stresses on registration of only electric vehicles from 2024, so that in the next 10 years, 75 percent of the vehicles in cities with a population of more than one million are electric.
The committee has also recommended doubling the share of grid power in the national energy basket to 40 per cent by 2035. The committee has asked to constitute a group of ministers consisting of the ministries related to petroleum, coal, power and renewable energy. Along with this, it was also asked to form a committee of secretaries, in which members of the ministries monitoring energy consumption should also be included.
The Energy Transition Advisory Committee was formed under the chairmanship of former Petroleum Secretary Tarun Kapoor, in which officials from government oil companies and the Ministry of Petroleum were included. When Tarun Kapoor became advisor to the Prime Minister, former ONGC chairman Subhash Kumar was made the chairman of the committee. And under his chairmanship, the committee has prepared the report and submitted it to the Ministry of Petroleum.
In the report, emphasis has been given on electric vehicles for road transport, as well as banning diesel-powered four-wheelers as soon as possible. The committee has recommended a ban on diesel powered four wheelers till 2027 i.e. for the next five years in cities with a population of more than 10 lakhs and cities with high pollution. It has been said in the report that diesel-run buses should not be included in urban areas at all.