Chennai: The National Green Tribunal has recommended Rs 171.34 fine on German auto major Volkswagen as health damages for causing air pollution in Delhi due to excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
A four-member committee formed by the National Green Tribunal has recommended Rs 171.34 crore fine on German auto major Volkswagen as “health damages” for causing air pollution in Delhi due to excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
The expert committee in its report has estimated that Volkswagen cars released approximately 48.678 tonnes of NOx in 2016 in the national capital.
‘Estimated cost of heath damage due to additional NOx emissions from the Volkswagen group vehicles is approximately Rs 171.34 crore using a metro city, i.e., Delhi as a base. The value may be considered conservative due to lack of methodologies for calculating the overall impact of nitrogen oxide on environment in India and hence only health damages are valued,’ the committee said in its report.
‘Further the valuation is for Delhi city considering that the value of NOx is 435 tonnes is released in the city. This is assumed because lack of data on the geographical locations and plying regions of Volkwagen vehicles which have caused the damage and for all the years which have been considered for damage,’ the committee added.
The four-member panel comprised ARAI director Rashmi Urdhwareshe, chief scientist of CSIR-NEERI Nitin Labhsetwar, Ministry of Heavy Industries Director Ramakant Singh and Member Secretary of CPCB Prashant Gargava.
The panel was formed by the NGT on 16 November last year to give its expert opinion on the subject whether the manufacturer has exceeded the prescribed environmental norms and fair estimate of the damage caused to the environment.
The committee has told the NGT that automobiles are a major source of nitrogen oxide emissions and nitrogen dioxide is the most prevalent source form of nitrogen oxide.
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| A ‘cheat’ or ‘defeat device’ is a software in diesel engines to manipulate emission tests by changing the performance of the cars globally.
Volkswagen India had in December 2015 announced the recall of 3,23,700 lakh vehicles in India to fix the emission software after ARAI conducted tests on some models and found that their on-road emissions were 1.1 times to 2.6 times higher than the applicable BS-IV norms. The automobile giant had admitted to the use of ‘defeat device’ in 11 million diesel engine cars sold in the US, Europe and other global markets to manipulate emission test results. After the tests by ARAI, Volkswagen India had undertaken to rejig the software by recalling around 3.23 lakh vehicles fitted with EA 189 diesel engines which were in alleged violation of emission norms. |