Vehicles choking Haridwar roads major culprits in polluting city’s air

The Times of India , Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Correspondent : TNN
HARIDWAR: The number of vehicles registered annually on the roads of Haridwar have increased by over 60 per cent in the last seven years, and are one of the major contributing factors of rising air pollution levels in the holy city. Open burning of garbage and dry leaves which TOI has been highlighting repeatedly, are the other major sources of the air getting murkier day by day in the city.

According to data provided by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Haridwar, there were a total of 3,03,800 registered vehicles in the city as of December 31, 2015. Another 35-40,000 are expected to be registered this year. This is an exponential jump as only 19,334 vehicles were registered at the Haridwar RTO in 2008. "Every year, around 40,000 vehicles are getting registered in Haridwar district with majority of them plying in the city. Out of the total number of registered vehicles, 80 per cent are two wheelers followed by cars and other vehicles," said Manish Tiwari, assistant regional transport officer (ARTO) Haridwar.

A study done by experts at GurukulaKangri University in 2011 on the distribution of air pollutants in the district, found that motor vehicles accounted for 60 to 70 per cent of the air pollution found in the urban areas of the district. R. C Dubey, professor of microbiology at the university, said that pollutants created due to vehicular emissions essentially consisted of different types of toxic gases including nitrus oxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and toxic heavy metals such as nickle, cadmium and lead. "The situation is further aggravated as a result of discharge of pollutants from industrial units in SIDCUL (State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited) and kilns on the city's outskirts," he said.

Almost 1.25 lakh pilgrims and tourists visit Haridwareveryday with a large number of them using private vehicles which add greatly to the emission from local vehicles. A city-based businessman Dinesh Kukreja told TOI, "The number of automobiles plying on city roads increase by over 100 per cent on some days. I have seen many people complain of irritation in eyes and other health problems due to pollution during peak season."

Agreed Arjun Agarwal, a local student activist,"The number of floating vehicles is much more than the the number of registered vehicles in Haridwar. The roads in the city have not been widened commensurate to the number of vehicles that the city has to bear with. The rising pollution in Haridwar is a major cause of concern and the government should step in to prevent the situation from getting worse."

Incidentally, the number of three-wheelers and tempos in Haridwar were barely a few hundreds a decade ago while presently, there are 3550 tempos and three-wheelers plying on the roads of the city.

According to Dubey of GurkulKangriuniversity, the problem is a complex one and needs a multi-pronged strategy to deal with it effectively. "One immediate solution can be large-scale plantation of pollution-tolerant trees which can help in making the air cleaner. Some of the trees that can be used for this purpose are species like kaner and madar," he said.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Vehicles-choking-Haridwar-roads-major-culprits-in-polluting-citys-air/articleshow/55037273.cms
 


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