New Delhi: The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Monday released a study which said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) underestimates the total number of trucks entering the national capital by nearly 70%.
CSE sought a pollution compensatory charge on all trucks entering Delhi in addition to the MCD toll fee to discourage them from entering the capital as they contribute around 22-30% of the city’s air pollution.
The non-profit organization claimed the study was done to accurately estimate the number of commercial vehicles entering and leaving Delhi at all key toll points and verify MCD’s data.
The CSE study counted all categories of trucks and other commercial vehicles that feature in the MCD database.
Punching holes in the MCD’s estimates regarding trucks entering the city, the study said that according to the municipality’s data, on an average, only 22,628 commercial vehicles, excluding taxis, enter Delhi each day from nine entry points, as against the 38,588 commercial vehicles counted by the CSE survey.
Another major revelation made in the study was that many of these trucks pass through Delhi to avoid higher toll charges on other routes.
