Catalytic converters must for 4-wheelers from June

NEW DELHI, February 27: The government has decided to make catalytic converters mandatory for all new four-wheeler petrol-driven vehicles in all capital cities, plus 20 others from June 1, 1998.

Under the norms, all four-wheeler petrol-driven vehicles registered on first sale in state and union territory capitals and other cities on or after June 1 shall be fitted by the manufacturers with a noble metal based catalytic converter. The catalytic converters to be used shall be of an oxidated type with an OEM certification.

Apart from the capitals, the cities covered under the notification are Vishakhapatnam, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Surat, Baroda, Gurgaon, Hisar, Ambala, Cochin, Calicut, Indore, Pune, Nagpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Allahabad and Kanpur. At present, use of catalytic converters is mandatory in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Calcutta.