JOIN USCivic agencies' data not accurate: CSE
A day after the Supreme Court took cognisance of pollution caused by goods vehicles entering Delhi, the Centre for Science and Environment released a study which has found “gross” underestimation by the municipal corporations in the number of trucks entering the capital.
According to the findings, 38,588 commercial vehicles enter Delhi only from nine entry points each day, as against the MCD figure of 22,628, an underestimation of 70 per cent.
This figure has a direct impact on the pollution contributed by these trucks to the city’s already toxic air.
Challenging the data by municipal corporations, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), on Tuesday said 38,588 commercial vehicles (excluding taxis) enter Delhi daily only from the nine locations. If this is extrapolated to the 127 entry points in the capital, then a total of 52,146 commercial vehicles enter Delhi.
And if one considers the average number of trucks that exit Delhi from the nine points, the total number of such light and heavy goods vehicles comes to 85,799. If other entry and exit points are also taken into account, the total number of vehicles entering and leaving the city is 1,15,945 each day.
The trucks use Delhi as a transit route because it is cheaper to traverse through the capital than to take alternative highways. The alternative roads are toll roads and charge according to rates decided by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
The road that cuts through Delhi has a lower charge decided by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
“For instance, NH 71 and NH 71A are toll roads that connect Rewari via Jhajjar and Rohtak to Panipat. Commercial traffic, which is travelling from North India to west and then to South India could take this route. It would not need to travel through Delhi. But the toll rate for the three-axle trucks to travel on this road is Rs 1,420. If the truck travels through Delhi, it is required to pay the MCD toll, which for a three-axle truck would be Rs 450,” the study said.
The study was a part of the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) report submitted in the Supreme Court, following which it had asked the Centre and Delhi government to respond on the possibility of a “pollution tax” on such vehicles.
CSE had commissioned a private company to accurately estimate the number of commercial vehicles entering and leaving Delhi by using 24x7 video recording at fixed spots near nine entry points between June 29 and July 18, 2015.
The vehicles include all categories of trucks and other commercial vehicles that feature in the MCD database. The nine entry points account for close to 75 per cent of the total commercial vehicle entry into Delhi.
It said that these vehicles spew close to 30 per cent of the total particulate load and 22 per cent of the total nitrogen oxide load from the transport sector into Delhi’s air.
“This is clearly a massive loading of toxic pollution. Delhi’s own vehicles are responsible for 62 per cent of PM 2.5 levels and 68 per cent of the NOx load. We can at least control the pollution from light and heavy commercial vehicles,” CSE Director General Sunita Narain said.
The study also found a match between air pollution levels and truck movement. There is a spike in air pollution when trucks enter the city.
“The delay in building the two expressways has cost the city dear in terms of pollution. While immediate steps are needed to complete the two expressways – western and eastern – directed by the Supreme Court over a decade ago, it is possible to take additional steps in the short term to reduce pollution load from trucks before this winter,” said CSE’s executive director Anumita Roychowdhury.
“Imposing a charge will reduce the traffic that has options not to travel through Delhi immediately. It will also create conditions for traffic that is not destined for the city, to look for alternative routes,” she added.