Fight against pollution: Capital to become first Indian city to run CNG two-wheelers

The government has allowed CNG kits in Activa’s base model on a pilot project basis. According to sources, the CNG kit will be available in the market by the second half of June.

“The CNG kits having two cylinders with an aggregate capacity of 4.8 liter have been approved for installation in Honda Activa’s base model,” said a senior officer of the Transport Department. As per the approval issued to the Pune-based ITUK Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd on May 24, these CNG kits can be installed in two-wheelers having a capacity of 81.75 cc to 136.25 cc. These kits will be installed only in four stroke petrol two-wheelers registered or manufactured between April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2016, said the order. Besides, providing clean fuel to two-wheelers, the new system will also provide cheaper fuel as CNG is only Rs 37 per kg which will make the cost at around 50 paise per km. “These CNG kits will be installed in Euro-III model vehicles in the city,” he added. He further added that a two- wheeler roughly covers the same distance in 0.585 kg of CNG as in one litre of petrol.

“After successful implementation in Honda Activa, it will be very easy to get approval for the other vehicles,” said a representative of the manufacturing company. The manufacturing agency, ITUK Manufacturing India has partnership with Iran-based company where the project to install CNG kits in four lakh two-wheelers is already going on. The emission from two-wheelers was an issue up for debate during Odd-Even Phase I and II in the city as these vehicles were exempted in the scheme. After implementation of the scheme the registration of two wheelers also increased in the city. According to experts, if the scheme becomes popular among two wheelers, air pollution will come down drastically.