Upgrade current emissions testing procedures: CSE

The current practice of pollution under control (PUC) is "rudimentary and ineffective", a green body today said while asking the government to take steps to upgrade the current emissions testing procedures and make vehicle manufacturers liable for emissions performance.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in its analysis - 'Is India prepared to prevent manufacturing defects and frauds in vehicles that compromise their emissions performance on roads?' - in the backdrop of the Volkswagen emissions scandal termed it as a "serious" public health issue in India as air pollution has emerged as the fifth largest killer.
"The current PUC norms are not only too lenient to fail a vehicle, they cannot test tiny particles and NOx from in-use vehicles. Lax norms and poor enforcement make the PUC programme very ineffective. This needs an overhaul. Monitoring of emissions from diesel vehicles is particularly weak. This can lead to uncontrolled emissions of toxic particulates and nitrogen oxides," it said in its analysis.

It said that the automobile industry must commit to portable emissions monitoring to check real driving emissions when Euro VI standards are enforced.
The government must fix manufacturers' responsibility for emissions performance of vehicles during their useful life on the road while manufacturers must declare certified as well as on-road emission levels, it said.
"This is a serious public health issue in India where air pollution has emerged as the fifth largest killer and vehicles are responsible for very high exposures to toxic pollution in cities," it said.

Citing the "biggest corporate frauds in the global automobile industry - the Volkswagen defeat device case" CSE said such scenarios have gone nearly unnoticed in India.

Even though Volkswagen cars have been found to be erring, there is no official action nor is there any attempt to ensure that other models do not emit more than their certification levels.
"This exposes a serious weakness in our emissions regulations that compromise emissions performance of vehicles. This makes India extremely vulnerable as it is rapidly motorising and dieselising without a strong compliance framework. This month, even China has gone ahead to recall 2.0 litre Volkswagen diesel cars," its analysis said.
"The current practice of pollution under control programme (PUC) is rudimentary and ineffective. It is not designed to address complex emissions control systems in new vehicles.

"This cannot screen inherent technical flaws and frauds for which manufacturers are responsible that compromise the emissions performance in the real world," it said.