A day after the ban on the selling and purchasing of all BS-III vehicles, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today formally launched BS-IV grade fuels from 12 different locations across the country through video links from Bhubaneswar. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradhan said, a new era of clean transportation fuels has begun. He said, BS-IV grade fuels will benefit crores citizens of our country by substantially reducing pollution levels in our cities.
Stating that all state-run oil marketing companies will provide BS-IV-compliant fuel at their 53,500 retail fuel stations across the country, the Petroleum minister confirmed that his Ministry aimed to implement introduction of Bharat Stage-VI compliant fuel in the country by 2020. The event was attended by Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry Secretary K D Tripathi and senior officials of lndian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum. Notably, the Supreme Court earlier ordered a ban on sale and purchase of Bharat Stage-III vehicles and yesterday was the deadline.
