Visakhapatnam: BS-IV dealers toil hard to dispose unsold vehicles

Visakhapatnam: As the deadline to do away with the Bharat Stage Emission Standards (BSES) IV inching closer, automobile manufacturers and dealers are trying their best to clear the stock by March 31.

In case if the stock continues to remain, the dealers are left with three options. They include returning of unsold vehicles to the respective manufacturers, registering such vehicles in the name of the staff or relatives by March 31 or dismantle the vehicle and scrap or use the spare parts.

Given the rising pollution levels in the country, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) decided to upgrade the vehicles from the existing BS-IV to BS-VI. As a part of another bold step to curb pollution levels, the Union government went ahead in skipping BS-V vehicles despite the huge loss it incurred in the exercise.

Keeping this in view, the manufacturing companies and automobile dealers have given clear instructions to exhaust the existing stock of the BS-IV and BS-V before the new norm comes into force. The emission-related changes include ignition control, tailpipe emissions, etc. 'Automatic headlamp on' is one of the apparent changes the new norm tries to enforce, meeting the safety aspect of the new emission standards.

Deputy Transport Commissioner G C Raja Ratnam told The Hans India that all the manufacturers and dealers should adhere to the guidelines. "Registration pertaining to BS-IV vehicles should be completed by March 31. Action will be taken against those who fail to do so," he said, indicating that permanent registration of vehicles should be done by March 31 and those opting for fancy or lucky numbers will not be spared. About 200 to 300 vehicles, including, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers, get sold a day in cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Guntur. However, normally, major dealers keep thousands of vehicles in stock. Clearing the existing stock is one of the biggest challenges they have on hand now.

Earlier, similar situation was faced by the automobile dealers when the government decided to convert BS-III vehicles into BS-IV. Some failed to exhaust the stocks in time and a few of them had incurred loss to the tune of Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per two-wheeler while clearing the BS-III vehicles within a short span. With dealers being extra-cautious, efforts are made to clear the stocks by March 31.

In-charge RTO R C H Srinivas says that there is a drastic variation between BS-IV and BS-VI in terms of pollution emission "While BS-IV petrol passenger vehicles emit 250 mg per km nitrogen oxide, BS-VI will emit 80 mg. similarly, in diesel passenger vehicle, particulate matter (PM) limit touches 25 mg per km in BS-IV, it is 4.5 mg in BS-VI,"he adds.