New Delhi, June 27: Union petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has initiated an inquiry into the blending of toxic additives in petrol by oil refineries after the Central Pollution Control Board sounded an alert.

The Delhi-based non-government organisation, the Centre for Science and Environment, had pointed out that manganese-based petrol additives, which are cheap, are increasingly being used. This, it said, leads to the emission of manganese particles that have an adverse effect on health.

The NGO demanded a ban on the use of these toxic petrol additives and also alerted the pollution board about their use in two IOC refineries in Panipat and Mathura.

In April, the pollution board had written to the Environmental Pollution Control Authority warning that oil companies may resort to using cheap manganese-based additives in petrol to meet the strict Euro III pollution standards of automobile fuels introduced on April 1 in 11 cities.

Refineries often use additives to ensure that vehicles do not knock or cease and also maintain burn efficiency.

The Euro III norms have been introduced in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Agra, Kanpur, Surat and Hyderabad as recommended by the Mashelkar committee on auto-fuel policy.

Aiyar had in a June 16 letter to the NGO’s associate director, Anumita Roychowdhury, admitted that such additives lead to toxic emissions and though they are inexpensive, their “use in petrol needs to be discontinued in the interest of the community”.

Some refineries have replied to letters from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee assuring the panel that these toxic additives would not be used in Delhi. However, environmentalists fear the additives could be used in other states that have to meet Euro III standards.

The pollution control authority has asked the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to look into the matter. The use of toxic additives was also raised in Parliament and MPs demanded to know the steps taken by the government to ban the chemicals.

Aiyar also sought reports from the refineries about the use of these petrol additives following the alerts by the NGO and pollution board. He said he had reports from oil PSUs that, except for the Numaligarh Refinery Limited, which used marginal quantities of these additives, other public sector oil refineries were not using them any more.