New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS): The government Wednesday said that under the 'Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme' (BNVSAP) the crash standards shall be made mandatory for all new vehicles from Oct 1, 2017.

This comes after the non-governmental passenger vehicle safety rating agency Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) made a presentation to the Heavy Industries Ministry on the bleak safety standards of cars manufactured in India.

According to Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises G.M. Siddeshwara, the Global NCAP showed the bleak safety standards of cars manufactured in India, when subjected to 'Offset Crash Test'.

The minister informed the Lok Sabha that a committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MORTH) on March 25 2014 for the purpose of creating a NCAP for India.

A meeting of the committee has been held on Dec 3 2014 wherein it was decided that the test facilities should be ready in all respects by December 2015.

The Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme (BNVSAP) Phase-I implementation is to follow this time line.

The committee has also decided that compliance as per crash standards shall be made mandatory for the new vehicles from Oct 1, 2017. In case of existing vehicles, the same will apply from Oct 1, 2019.