Hyderabad: Bharat Stage 4 yet to make its mark

Hyderabad: Two months after Bharat Stage-4 vehicles were introduced into the market in a bid to curb the pollution levels, experts feel not much has changed.

According to data available over 96 lakh vehicles are registered in the state up to April, of which 50 lakh were in Hyderabad.

After BS-4 vehicles was made mandatory, about 1,000 vehicles are being registered daily. BS-4 vehicles are  cleaner, in that their pollution levels are lower. But there are so few of them right now that there has been no significant change in pollution levels.

Traffic expert and former Maharashtra DGP P.S. Pasricha said BS-4 vehicles would only slow the process of pollution. “Automobile industry is the biggest polluter. Unless old vehicles are phased out appropriately, pollution will not reduce,” he said.

Some experts feel adding more vehicles that pollute less is not the solution. Mr Sagar Dhara, an expert on air pollution, said the problem was of such magnitude that making amendments to the engine and fuel type were superficial and no technological intervention would help the city. 

He said that as long as the number of vehicles was not reduced, pollutants released into the air would remain the same. “The fuel may be clean, but our driving practices are very poor and would only cause insufficient fuel burning that add to the pollution,” said Mr B.V. Bhadragirish, environmental engineer with PCB.

The success of BS-4 pivots on voluntary action by people (to give up old vehicles), Mr Pasricha said.