India's emission regulations stands exposed: Centre for Science and Environment

New Delhi: The recent Volkswagen corporate fraud has exposed gaps in emissions regulations in India and makes the country "extremely" vulnerable as it is "dieselizing" rapidly without the right norms and compliance framework for manufacturers, a green body said on Monday. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that the Volkswagen fraud was one of the biggest corporate frauds in the global automobile industry which was unearthed recently when popular diesel car models of the company were found to be patched with 'defeat devices' wired to trick official emission tests in the US.

"This matter has gone nearly unnoticed in India except the usual investigation to check if the fraud has happened here too. But the technical ingenuity of the Volkswagen corporate fraud has exposed weakness and gaps in the emissions regulations in India, like many other regions that allow industry to compromise on emission performance of vehicles. "This makes India extremely vulnerable as it is motorizing and dieselizing rapidly without the right regulations and compliance framework for manufacturers," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director, CSE.

The Volkswagen fraud was a key point of discussion at a workshop on "Urban air quality and challenges and strategies to reduce emissions from in-use and new vehicles" held by CSE. "Even as India waits for the results of the investigation of the Volkswagen models sold in India - as directed by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways - it is important to state that without a robust system of emissions monitoring and compliance... the investments in emission control systems in vehicles to meet tighter standards can go waste and negate air pollution control efforts in our cities," said Roy Chowdhury.

CSE said urgent steps are needed to implement emissions warranty and recall programme along with in-use compliance regulations to make vehicle manufacturers liable and accountable for the emissions performance of the vehicles. "The current practice of pollution under control programme (PUC) is rudimentary and ineffective to address complex emissions control systems in new vehicles. This cannot screen inherent technical flaws and frauds for which manufacturers are responsible and compromise the emissions performance in the real world," it said.