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Beijing Takes 180,000 Polluting Cars Off The Road In Four Months
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| NDTV , Saturday, May 06, 2017 |
| Correspondent
: Reuters |
| Beijing, in a bid to get to grips with congestion and smog, took 180,000 old vehicles off its roads between January - April 2017. A plan of action put out in 2015 committed the city to removing 1 million old and polluting vehicles between 2013-2017 period. In order to meet the target, the Chinese capital needs to take 300,000 such vehicles off the road this year. Beijing has grappled with critical levels of air pollution recently. In December 2016, authorities announced a five-day pollution 'red alert' that not only ordered thousands of vehicles off the roads, but also shut down schools and advised the city's residents to stay indoors.
Earlier this year Chen Jining, China's Minister of Environmental Protection, blamed traffic for Beijing's grave air pollution statistics. He said traffic is responsible for 31 per cent of Beijing's total particulate matter. Additionally, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said the capital has 5.7 million vehicles - responsible for half of the city's nitrogen oxide emissions which is a major source of smog.
In January and February, average readings of small breathable particles, PM2.5, reached 95 micrograms per cubic metre in Beijing, registering an increase of 69.6 per cent in comparison to the same period last year. In contrast to those numbers, the World Health Organization recommends concentrations of just 10 micrograms. Following this, Beijing has vowed to pursue monumental measures this year in order to meet the 2013-2017 air pollution targets.
The city hopes to bring the average down to around 60 micrograms this year - a drop of over 25 per cent from 2012 levels.
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| SOURCE
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http://auto.ndtv.com/news/beijing-removes-180-000-old-polluting-cars-from-roads-in-4-months-1689873 |
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