Maharashtra wants to take petrol and diesel vehicles off its streets. The state government has set up a seven-member committee to study the viability of banning petrol and diesel-powered engines completely within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The MMR comprises the twin districts of Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban and large parts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad.

This follows the Bombay High Court’s directive earlier this month that in order to combat air pollution in Mumbai, the state needs to urgently undertake a comprehensive study to assess the feasibility of phasing out diesel and petrol-diesel vehicles in favour of those powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and electricity.

The court had initiated a suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) over the city’s worsening pollution crisis.

The Bombay HC also directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to take the following measures:

• Ensure that city bakeries using wood and coal convert their units to run on gas or other green fuels within six months instead of the one-year deadline that had been set by the authorities earlier.
• Give no new approvals to open bakeries or similar businesses running on coal or wood.
• Grant new licences to units that comply with the condition of using green fuel only.
• Install pollution indicators at construction sites.

The court said while all authorities are broadly aware of the problems and the reasons behind Mumbai’s depleting Air Quality Index (AQI), the solution and measures to be taken need to be arrived at immediately.  The court said it would take stock of compliance efforts on February 13.

The seven-member committee set up by the state will be headed by retired IAS officer Sudhir Kumar Shrivastava and will submit a report with its recommendations within three months.

The other panel members are Maharashtra’s transport commissioner, Mumbai’s joint police commissioner (traffic), the managing director of the Mahanagar Gas Limited, the project manager of the Maharashtra State Power Distribution Company Limited (Mahavitaran), the president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), and joint transport commissioner (Enforcement-1).