- GUZZLE KATATEL, SPEW POISON

Calcutta might not see the last of its polluting two-stroke autos for at least another decade if the pace of Operation Phaseout remains what it is.

JAYANTA BASU
TT for City - Poison Air
Sunita Narain in the city on Thursday. (Rashbehari Das)

A diesel and katatel combo is deadly for Calcutta, according to researchers studying fuel consumption in various cities.

Two-stroke autos ply in Kolkata despite court ban A COURT directive to stop polluting two stroke autorickshaws from plying on Kolkata roads has been rendered ineffective by the state government. The Calcutta High Court order dated July 18, 2008, to ban two-stroke autos by December 2008 was based on a notification issued by the state environment department. The state government however

Gasoline lines are a familiar sight in Kathmandu. But this time, the queues of motorcycles are there not for fuel but because of fuel.

The state environment is set to issue a notification that will provide police more power to crack down on manufacturers and users of katatel.

The notification will ban fuel production without the state pollution control board

Fuel adulteration has reached acute levels as the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has failed to monitor the quality of fuel supplied in the market.
Senior technicians at workshops of leading motorcycle distributors said incidences of engine damage caused by adulterated fuel have risen dramatically over the past two months.
"Some 50 percent of the three dozen bikes we service daily have problems caused by contaminated fuel,' said Mukesh Lamichhane, technician and operator of a garage in Anamnagar.

Hyderabad, July 21: Air pollution levels in the city are shooting up rapidly because of the exponential rise in the number of vehicles. "On an average, 600 new vehicles are entering our roads every day," said a senior transport official. This has been causing the air pollution to go beyond acceptable levels. For instance, the total suspended particulate matter (TSPM) in the air should be 200 milligram per cubic metre but the average value being recorded in the twin cities is 280 milligram per cubic metre.

Two small-time city businessmen, who allegedly forged documents in connivance with a sub inspector to get a tanker containing spurious diesel released from a police station, were denied bail by a city court on Tuesday. The duo, suspected to be suppliers of adulterated fuel to truckers were denied relief by the court which said their being behind bars was important for the cops to trace the SI who is absconding.

India's pricing policies for petroleum products

Adulteration of fuel at petrol bunks in the city is on the rise. At least 1,075 cases have been registered this year against various oil companies as against 931 cases last year. According to legal metrology department, at least 299 cases have been booked against HPCL, 531 against IOC, 188 against BPCL and 17 against Reliance in 2007-08. Receipts with oil companies showed a fall in total revenues from sales of diesel and petrol despite the increase in sale of vehicles, the officials said. They attributed the discrepancy to adulteration of fuel at petrol bunks.