Private vehicles account only account for 3% pollution in Delhi: Experts

Banning movement of private non-CNG vehicles in Delhi would be a “misplaced” attempt at curbing pollution in the city, as major polluters — such as heavy vehicles that run on diesel — will still be plying, experts said on Wednesday. They quoted several studies to reiterate that a ban on private vehicles will only reduce pollution “marginally”.

“Imposing such a large-scale ban would hardly serve the purpose as major polluters such as trucks will be exempted,” Sunil Dahiya, senior Greenpeace India campaigner, said.

A study conducted by TERI on Delhi’s air quality had suggested the same. It stated that trucks of all categories contribute 10% to the suspended particulate matter, which is the highest across all vehicle categories in the national capital. Compared to this, four-wheelers add only 3% to the pollution, it said.

Also, allowing 1.5 lakh cabs to ply is likely to negate the impact of such a ban, a report report by SAFAR, the pollution forecasting wing of the Union government, said. The cab aggregators have Vehicle Kilometre Travelled readings as high as 1,45,000km a year per car, which is much higher than a privately owned car, the study said.

Geetam Tiwari, professor, department of civil engineering, IIT-Delhi, questioned whether a “ban” was really the solution. She said if such a ban is implemented, it should be backed up by studies that show the impact of the measure on pollution.

While Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain said the government has been ascertaining the proposal’s viability, the transport department said it, along with the traffic police, already ensures pollution checks in all private vehicles.

“Diesel-run buses from neighbouring states and trucks have high emissions and a lot of pollution also is spread by overloaded trucks. Besides, most private vehicle are BS-IV compliant now,” an official, on condition of anonymity, said.

Another official said private vehicles in Delhi already have an edge over vehicles in neighbouring cities. “This is because Delhi is the only city to supply BS-VI fuel, which is five times more cleaner than BS-IV fuel,” the official said.

E Madhu, principal scientist and head of the transportation planning division at CSIR-CRRI, called the proposed ban “completely impractical”.

“Implementing such a ban requires long-term planning. Expediting installation of intelligent traffic management systems at intersections will also help in cutting pollution,” he said.

First Published: Nov 15, 2018 10:56 IST