DIBRUGARH, Dec 15 – From a quiet little township to one of the fastest growing city of Assam Dibrugarh has expanded in leaps and bounds over the past one decade. Growing urbanisation has resulted in the burgeoning rise in the yearly registration of vehicles ensuing more vehicular movements on the roads of Dibrugarh. Alongwith growing motorisation, vehicular pollution too is escalating at an alarming ratio in the city exposing the public to serious health hazards.
While it is obligatory for every two, three and four-wheelers to undergo emission level test every six months to meet the emission standard fixed under Rule 115 (2) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, motorists and two-wheeler owners rarely abides by it. Majority of the vehicle users don't posses the mandatory pollution under control certificate. At the same time the traffic department has also been very lax in enforcing the rules.
According to an estimate there are nearly 50 thousand registered vehicles in Dibrugarh district with nearly half of them possessed by the residents of the city. However it is witnessed that very few vehicle users undergo pollution check in the four automobile pollution-testing stations of Dibrugarh even though the charges are nominal. The rate charged for different vehicles are as follows: Moped (Rs 15), Scooter/M Cycle (Rs 20), Three Wheeler (petrol) (Rs 35), Three Wheeler (diesel) (Rs 40), All diesel driven vehicles like Bus, Truck, 407, 709, Sumo, Diesel Jeep etc (Rs 86). Under Rules 115 (2) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 the notified emission standard of idling carbon monoxide limit percent by volume is 4.5 percent for two and three wheelers while it is 3 percent for four wheelers. "The public shows little interest in getting their vehicles checked for emission. Hardly five or six vehicle owners turn up on an average daily. At the same time traffic personnel who conducts regular checks on drivers for driving licence and registration certificates hardly bothers about possession of PUC certificates," complained an employee of a pollution-testing station of Dibrugarh.
With no possible solutions to mitigate the impacts of motor vehicle air pollution, people are exposed to serious risks from the suite of pollutants emitted from motor vehicles that taint the city atmosphere. Pollutants like total suspended particulates matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and lead pose the most widespread and acute risks, which causes respiratory disorder, headache, nose and throat irritation, lung infection etc. Many physicians agree that bronchial asthma is increasing among the school going children. "Instances of lung cancer, respiratory tract infection, asthma, lung cancer, COPD are the direct fallout of increasing air pollution," says Dr Gayatri Gogoi of AMCH, Dibrugarh.
Dr Bharati Dutta, a faculty member with the department of Geography of the illustrious DHSK College was of the opinion that switching over to CNG and using lead-free petrol might be the answer in mitigating the problem. “In big metros like Delhi and Mumbai people prefer eco-friendly compressed natural gas to petrol and diesel. Apart from that old and outdated vehicles are being eased out in a phased manner to curb vehicular pollution,” Dutta said. “Replacement of pollution causing agents by non-polluting agents in vehicular fuels like unleaded petrol and dilution of pollutants are effective pollution deterrent measures,” she added. As per estimates of the city traffic police nearly five thousand vehicles ply on the roads and streets and nearly fifty vehicles are added to the city roads everyday causing more ecological effluence.
