New Delhi, India – The Indian government has decided to implement auto fuel economy standards, after a year of working with heavy industries, surface transport and power ministries, according to the Times of India.

The Prime Minister’s Office has decided that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will formulate the norms and notify them under the Energy Conservation Act, while the surface transport ministry will ensure its implementation.

The norms will be developed on the basis of gasoline and diesel vehicle mileage. BEE is now expected to move fast to implement labelling of vehicles in an initial stage, which will then be converted to mandatory standards. The standards will push the mileage of cars up over the years, as the country did with appliances for energy efficiency.

However, the paper reported that the issue is volatile, and that bickering continues at the ministerial level despite clear directions from the Prime Minister’s Office. Although directions were given that BEE would formulate and notify the standards, the road transport ministry held a meeting of its emissions committee to discuss the issue again. The report said that some auto sector representatives do not want to use carbon dioxide as a basis of deciding the norms, and demanded that it legally be put on the list of “local pollutants.” Government climate experts have also warned that using carbon dioxide as a measure would make the standards too obscure for customers to understand, and would jeopardize India’s stand at international climate meetings.