ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY ACTIVITIES

The Central Pollution Control Board provides technical and administrative support to the Environmental Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for National Capital Region (EPCA).

Adulteration of Fuels

The Hon'ble Supreme Court while hearing I.A. No. 151 of the Writ Petition No. 13029/1985 filed by Delhi Petrol Dealers Association gave the following directive in its order dated November 22, 2001:

"Copy of this application be also forwarded to Shri Bhure Lal who should constitute an agency which would independently carry out random inspection at the petrol pumps, oil depots and tank lorries in Delhi and give a report with regard to the quality of petrol and diesel available there. It will not be necessary for such an agency to give advance notice before lifting samples as it will be helpful if there is an element of surprise".

To ascertain the existing procedures for checking adulteration of fuel and to formulate a work plan for conducting surprise checks and independent fuel testing, EPCA discussed the matter with the representatives of the Anti-Adulteration Wing of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Govt. of NCT Delhi, Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Society for Fuel Testing Laboratory (FTL) Noida. EPCA submitted an interim report to the Honble Supreme Court and Subsequently, EPCA authorized the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) as an agency to carry out random inspection of petrol pumps, oil depots and tank lorries. CSE carried out inspection of fuel quality at fuel dispensing stations, oil depots and tank lorries independently from December 20, 2001 to January 18, 2002 in the National Capital Territory of Delhi and in the National Capital Region. During the inspection, the State Level Coordinator and Regional Level Coordinator of the Oil Companies provided logistic support for sampling. The petrol and diesel samples collected from various locations were analyzed at the Fuel Testing Laboratory at NOIDA. At the instance of EPCA, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) collected 192 samples and handed over 145 samples to the Fuel Testing Laboratory (FTL) NOIDA for analysis.

For accurate detection, alternative testing methods and protocols should be adopted for surveillance. It is possible to create a library of different refinery samples of automotive fuels and possible adulterants. With the help of the standard library chromatogram it will be much easier to detect fuel adulteration.

Pricing of CNG

The Hon'ble Supreme Court while hearing affidavit filed by the Indra Prastha Gas Ltd. on May 9, 2002, passed the following order:

"Bhure Lal Committee is requested to investigate the prices of CNG as done by the IGL and give report to this Court whether there is any justification for the figure of Rs. 16.83 per kg. In giving this report, the Bhure Lal Committee should take into consideration the price at which petrol, diesel and kerosene are sold in Delhi. It will also indicate as to what is the extent of the subsidy or cross subsidization, if any given by the Central Government in respect of petrol, diesel and kerosene as compared to CNG.

In order to implement the order, EPCA decided to call for submissions from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), Indraprashtha Gas Ltd.(IGL), Gas Authority of India Ltd.(GAIL), Mahanagar Gas Limited, Mumbai, Gujarat Gas Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Petronet LNG Limited, British Gas Co., Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Environment & Forests.

Besides written submission, EPCA held discussion with the concerned agencies. IGL, GAIL and MoP&NG also made presentations before the Authority. Based on these inputs, a report titled "Getting the Price Right: Promoting Environmentally Acceptable Fuels Through Fiscal Measures" was prepared for submission to the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Fiscal policy for promoting environmentally acceptable fuels

(i) It is clear from the review of the fuel taxation policies around the world that "favourable" taxation is an important instrument to maintain the price differential to encourage environmentally acceptable fuels. EPCA recommends that the Indian government must also frame a fiscal policy to allow for higher price competitiveness for environmentally acceptable fuels with competing conventional fuels.

(ii) In the context of Delhi and other critically polluted cities of India it is important to remember that CNG will directly compete with diesel more than petrol. As a result, the taxation policy should be designed in a manner that an appropriate and effective price differential is maintained with diesel. Therefore, in order to address the CNG taxation it is also important to address diesel taxation. In Delhi today the percentage difference between petrol and CNG prices is as high as 42 per cent in contrast to a meagre difference of 6 per cent between diesel and CNG. While tax on CNG should be lowered, tax on city diesel should be increased simultaneously.

(iii) It must be noted that the government is already using fiscal measures, such as tax adjustment in the excise duty, to manage the volatility in the diesel and petrol prices. For instance, given the high current prices of diesel and petrol, it has reduced the excise duty from 16 per cent to 14 per cent on diesel and 32 percent to 30 percent on petrol, to reduce the burden on the consumers.

(iv) EPCA recommended that the government should also provide a tax break on CNG for a certain period of time. Amount of gas that is coming in for transport and city distribution is a very small fraction of the total gas market in the country - less than 2 per cent. The excise duty, which has been increased from 8 per cent to 16 percent, will earn a mere Rs 42 crore from the Delhi CNG market during 2002-2003 and can therefore be waived off till the time the market is established. This will not affect revenue generation of the government to any appreciable level. But this will amount to a decrease in the price of CNG by Rs. 2.32 per kg. Subsequently, differential taxation should be phased in. This should be further complimented with vehicle based incentive programmes as already directed by the Honorable Supreme Court.

(v) The government is already poised towards deregulating the gas prices and gas sector reforms. But such moves will have to be examined carefully in the context of CNG as an autofuel. It is not within the purview of our report to look into these issues though we understand that there is need for an appropriate fiscal instrument that will enable natural gas and CNG to remain competitive in a market driven scenario. It is important that the government reviews the gas pricing system, status of gas sector reforms and practices in other countries to implement favourable taxation policy to promote environmentally acceptable fuels.

(vi) With deregulation and reforms underway, there is little elaboration of the issue of CNG as an autofuel in official policies. The current focus of the pricing system is on industrial and power uses of gas, where it is competing with fuel oil and naphtha. But there is no discussion on policy intervention needed to make CNG competitive vis a vis its competing fuels especially when price deregulation happens. If pricing and market reforms are not synchronized with appropriate regulatory support it may lead to steep escalation in gas prices after deregulation and may make it difficult to sustain favourable taxation policy especially vis a vis competing fuels like diesel that are likely to remain cheaper. This requires immediate scrutiny.

(vii) The government must urgently formulate a policy for CNG and other environmentally acceptable fuels for the transportation sector. The issue is not the price per se, but the comparative price of the fuel it is replacing. In the deregulated scenario if the price of diesel keeps fluctuating and remains too close or even lower than CNG it will have a negative impact on the CNG programme. Therefore, the government must urgently formulate a policy to promote environmentally acceptable fuels like CNG by using economic instruments to maintain the critical differential between clean and dirty fuels.

Infrastructure for CNG Supply

As per the Hon'ble Supreme Court order dated April 5, 2002, IGL is to make available 16.1 lacs kg of CNG per day in NCT of Delhi by 30.6.2002. As on 12.4.2002, IGL has installed 79 compressors comprising of 30 mother, 23 on-line and 26 daughter booster compressors. The total capacity of mother and online compressors is 33573 kg per hour, considering 18 hours working in a day. The daily capacity of compressors to fill up CNG works out as 604,314 kg against which sales is around 5 lacs kg per day.

There are 94 CNG compressors in operation which include 17 mother station on IGL land, 9 mother stations on DTC land, 13 on-line stations, 26 daughter booster stations and 29 daughter stations. As on March 31, 2002, 57240 CNG vehicles were in operation which consists of 2120 DTC buses, 2111 private buses, 35678 three wheelers, 2165 RTV/Mini buses, 10350 private cars and 4816 taxies. In March 2001, the number of CNG vehicles were 26350 only with 200 DTC buses, 200 private buses, 250 RTVs, 14000 three wheelers, 2200 taxis and 9500 cars.

Environmental Impact Due to Mines

In the matter of IA No. 1785 in W.P.(C) No.4677 of 1985; M.C. Mehta v/s UOI & others the Hon'ble Supreme Court has given the following direction to the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) on September 23, 2002:

"Pursuant to the report dated 9th August, 2002 of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority for the National Capital Region, counsel for the mine owners have filed particulars as to the mines which they say have not been inspected. Each applicant shall deposit in the Registry of this Court within three days a sum of Rs 10,000 for the expenses and the Bhure Lal committee is requested to carry out the inspection of the areas/mines indicated in the statement filed by Mr Kailash Vasudev, Sr Advocate in Court today, the statement being from pages 1 to 5 and the second concerned mines at serial no 1 to 25. The committee is requested to give a report as soon as possible, preferably within a period of three weeks. It is open to Bhure Lal committee to associate such other organisation or persons as it may deem fit and proper for the purpose of inspection."

On the basis of study, field visits as well as the report of CGWB, EPCA submitted an interim report on "Haryana Ridge and Aravalli hills: Environmental impact" to the Hon'ble Supreme Court on August 9, 2002.

As per the Hon'ble Supreme Court Order dated September 23,2003, EPCA further examined the issue and held discussions with the concerned officials from different departments on October 5, 2002. Inspection was made to 26 Mining sites on October 6, 2002 and October 13, 2002 along with the officials from concerned departments of the Haryana state government and mine owners.

The overall assessment of the environmental impact of the mining activities in the area especially its implication for ground water level in the region made the following recommendations :

(i) The ban on the mining activities and pumping of groundwater from up to 5 kms area from the Delhi-Haryana border in the Haryana side of the ridge and also in the Aravalli hill must be maintained.

(ii) Not only further degradation be halted, but all efforts must be made to ensure that the local economy is rejuvenated, with the use of plantations and local water harvesting based opportunities. It is indeed sad to note the plight of people living in these hills who are caught between losing their water dependent livelihood and between losing their only desperate livelihood to break stones in the quarries. It is essential that the Government of Haryana seriously implement programmes to enhance the land-based livelihood of people - agriculture, animal care and forestry.