Blame pollution, truck overloading for haze in city

Even switching to CNG is futile, as content of particulate matter & oxides of nitrogen rises in the air

Binny Sharma
New Delhi

WITH FREQUENT hike in petrol prices, the number of diesel vehicles running on the capital’s roads has risen considerably, and so has air pollution.

Even the reliance on compressed natural gas (CNG) for commercial vehicles has failed to save the capital from the thick haze that has been hanging over the city over the last few days.

This haze or smog, seen especially during the onset of winter, consists of pollutants which remain suspended in the lower atmosphere due to calm wind.

Commercial vehicles comprising trucks and buses are contributing largely to the thick smog, because a majority of them are operating in defiance of loading and air emission norms under Sections 113, 114 and 115 of Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

“The transport enforcement agencies in Delhi and the national capital region (NCR) are patronising illegal movement of overloaded goods carriages and transport vehicles operating in contravention of air emission control rules. Vehicular Air Emission levels are deteriorating in Delhi despite conversion to CNG for light trucks and all categories of buses,” said SP Singh, coordinator, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).

“Here comes the revelation that even CNG can cause heavy air pollution when a CNG-run goods carriage is overloaded in excess of its prescribed gross load limit,” he added.

Being largest business hub in northern India, Delhi attracts massive movement of goods trucks in the city, with almost 25,000-30,000 trucks entering into and passing through the various entry points from neighbouring NCR, says a report by IFTRT.

In addition to this, almost 75,000 goods trucks operate within Delhi on local routes.

In a recent study, the levels of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) were 811 in RK Puram and 760 in Punjabi Bagh, while the standard is 80 micrograms per cubic metre. The rise in number of diesel vehicles has caused pollution levels to rise by nearly ten times to the prescribed limits.

Despite having newest emission norms in place, Delhi’s pollution levels have risen

As per cse executive director (research) Anumita Roy Chowdhury, “Due to a rise in the number of vehicles, it is not just one pollutant but a multiple-pollutant crisis.”

Singh said that even after switching to CNG for light trucks since July 2005 and upgradating vehicular air emission norms to Euro-III and Euro-IV in Delhi and NCR by April 2010, the city’s air quality has been deteriorating as NOx and particulate matter (PM) are now at very high levels.

LOADING PATTERN NOX (G/KM) HC (G/KM) CO (G/KM) PM (PARTICULATE MATTER) (G/KM) STANDARD LOADING 3.17 0.01 0.59 104.13 OVERLOADING (10%) 7.16 0.35 0.62 134.85 OVERLOADING (20%) 75.05 2.60 3.59 289.42 OVERLOADING (30%) 119.2 2.63 9.97 611.75

“High levels of NOx and PM in air result in cancer and asthma, and medical records in Delhi have shown a study rise in lung cancer cases in the recent years,” he said.

Further, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRT&H) has made it compulsory from January 20, 2009 that trucks and buses registered in Delhi and NCR with national permit must have Bharat Stage-III (Euro-III) compliant emission norms in case these transport vehicles are originating and terminating their journey within NCR.

From April 2010, as per the vehicle emission norms roadmap, the Government of India introduced BS-IV emission norms in NCR and 12 cities in the country to reduce air pollution generated by commercial vehicles irrespective of their fuel usage, whether CNG or diesel.

Therefore, all the new commercial vehicles to be registered with local permit in NCR must conform to BS-IV vehicular emission norms.