With air pollution dominating public discourse this winter, TOI approached the major political parties contesting Delhi assembly elections to ask them about their action plan for cleaning up Delhi's air and taking positive steps for the environment. Ajay Maken of Congress gives us his party's plan in this regard in the first of a series.
Having reined in air pollution during most of the past decade, primarily by introducing CNG and then strengthening public transport in the shape of Metro, we are back to the days of achieving the dubious distinction of being the most polluted city in the world. With PM 2.5 levels at 441 mcgm3, we are back to the pre-CNG days of diesel fumes-emitting Blueline and Redline buses.
The primary reason for this decline in ambient air quality is gaseous pollution caused by vehicles, especially the diesel ones. As a first step towards making the air of the city breathable by our children, we need to mandate BharatEuro VI norms in NCR and at least BharatEuro IV across the country, up from the current Bharat IV and III, respectively .
NOx, sulphur, carbon and lead emissions from diesel vehicles need to be curbed also by way of mandating diesel producers to produce compliant fuel for use by such vehicles. The costs for the same may be higher but it is a small price to pay for the future of our children and our own health besides sustainability of the city.
With crude at a record low, it is an opportunity for the govern ment to deregulate diesel prices in the city in true spirit. This will deter the use of diesel vehicles as the preferred choice.
Similarly, the opportunity could also be utilized for decreasing excise on public transport and passenger vehicles that use clean fuel so that they can in turn lower tariff.
We will have to make the much-delayed shift to multi-modal public transport that uses less of road space and automated transport like buses, auto rickshaws and taxis. We also need to shift considerably to trains and other rail-based transport. This will have to be supplemented by ensuring last-mile connectivity with the help of electric vehicles which could also become the encouraged mode of short-distance pub lic transport.
Delhi, because of its extremely pre carious environmental situation, has to immediately stop the transit of heavy transport vehicles and public transport that do not have the city as destination.
For this purpose, the East-West and North-South bypass corridors will have to be made operational immediately .
A concrete and tough plan to curb the burning of solid waste, especially leaves, will have to be put into place by the gov ernment by providing alternate tech nologies.
Of course, the core bulwark of a 33% green cover in the city will not only have to be strengthened but ways will have to be found to enhance it. T he greatest threat to us in Delhi today is the air that we are breathing. The city has been ranked as the most polluted city in the world by WHO. The dangerous particulate matter, PM 2.5, in Delhi's air averages up to 15 times the annual permissible limit! The air is very hazardous and has serious consequences for those living in the city. It is high time that our authorities take note of this and share an immediate action plan to combat the situation.
In order to escalate this up to the government and administration, TOI has now launched `Let Delhi Breathe', a campaign to clean up Delhi's air . We invite our readers to show their support for #LetDelhiBreathe by taking a pledge on toi.inLetDelhiBreathe. Once we receive 1 lakh pledges, we will take this up with the authorities for speedy action.
Join us and save Delhi from choking on its own air.
