Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has condemned the use of SUVs and luxury vehicles strongly at a UN function in New Delhi yesterday. He stated use of SUVs in countries like India as “criminal” and further suggesting that there should be stronger and stricter fuel policy to discourage such vehicle use.
"The luxurious growth of large-size vehicles like SUVs is really a growth of concern... use of vehicles like SUVs and BMW in countries like India is criminal," Ramesh said. I think, we seriously need to think about fuel policy regime," he said while speaking at a workshop on promoting low-carbon transport.
At a conference organised by FICCI last month, petroleum minister Murli Deora had also said rich people driving Mercedes Benz cars were beneficiaries of diesel subsidy meant for the poor, and the ministry was working on a solution to the problem. Dual pricing based on end usage would be difficult to implement and would create a black market and hence a better targeting mechanism for the subsidy needs to be evolved, he had said.
