M A I N   N E W S

Now, diesel SUVs on Ramesh radar
Tribune News Service

New Delhi. November 13
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has a new agenda and that is to get diesel-guzzling luxury and the Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) off Indian roads.

Diesel cars in the luxury segment let out high carbon emissions and their use in a country like India is “criminal”, Ramesh said, suggesting a reformed diesel policy as real beneficiaries of the subsidy were not farmers but owners of “BMWs, Benzs and Hondas”.

“The luxurious growth of large-sized vehicles like the SUVs is really a cause for concern... use of vehicles like the SUVs and BMW in countries like India is criminal,” he said, speaking at a workshop on promoting low carbon transport.

The minister says he gets “very angry” when he sees the SUVs on the road. “I think the best way of dealing with them is not to prohibit them, but to have a fiscal policy regime that imposes a fiscal levy, a penalty,” he said, explaining that since “we cannot ask people to buy or not to buy a particular car, through an effective fiscal policy we can certainly have an impact”.

"We are subsidising diesel. We have a reformed policy as far as petrol is concerned. We are yet to reform as far as the net effect of diesel subsidy is concerned,” he said.