Across 13 cities in the country, Euro IV fuel will be made mandatory from today.
In Bangalore, 1,854 petrol bunks will switch from Euro III to Euro IV fuel, which is greener and cleaner. However, this comes at a price. While petrol will be dearer by about Rs0.55 per litre, diesel will be more expensive by 28 paise per litre. In Bangalore, petrol will cost Rs54.21 per litre, while diesel will be available at Rs41.67 per litre.
Emission norms will be stricter for all vehicles, and vehicular pollution will be more closely monitored by the state transport department. Joint commissioner of state transport, Vijay Vikram, said that all new vehicles will henceforth have Euro IV engines.
On an average, Bangalore consumes about 42,000 kilo litres (kl) of petrol and 36,000 kl of diesel every month. An Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) official said that although oil companies have already been supplying Euro IV fuel to the city, it is only from April 1 that its use will be made mandatory.
All the three public sector oil companies, IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HP), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) obtain Euro IV fuel from refineries in Mangalore, Chennai, Cochin and Gujarat. All these firms have made massive investments in improving the quality of fuel by de-sulphurisation and isomerisation, processes in the refinement of fuel by which its quality is made better, so that vehicles using it cause minimal pollution. Euro IV fuel complies with standards followed by member states of the European Union when it comes to acceptable levels of emission.
Bhushan Narang, president of the Bangalore Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said, “The price increase is not much, and it will not make a big dent in demand. As the quality of the fuel has been enhanced, it will actually be good for the city in the long term. There are also no problems in the transmission of fuel. Euro IV fuel, has, in fact, already been supplied to almost all outlets in the city.”
However, despite the increase in prices of fuel coming into effect from April 1, there was no rush at the petrol stations in the city, giving one cause to suspect that not many consumers were aware of the imminent price hike. Kushal Mukherjee, an engineer, said, “I was not aware of the switch from Euro III to Euro IV. I didn’t know of the impending price hike. Bangalore is an expensive city, now we have this too.”
