Trucks entering Delhi more than corporation claim

NEW DELHI: Diesel fumes from heavy commercial vehicles are choking the capital and these trucks push up the air pollution level by several notches higher than what official estimates tell us.
Harish Salve, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae on air pollution matters, filed an application on Monday highlighting lack of action to deal with emissions from trucks entering Delhi.He also submitted a report by Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority of NCR (EPCA) to SC that shows gross underestimation of the number of trucks entering the city and their contribution to Delhi’s air pollution. The actual number of trucks entering the city daily may be 71% higher than MCD’s estimates, the report indicates.
The EPCA report quotes a study commissioned by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) to a firm, VR Techniche, to accurately count and videograph the number of vehicles entering the city through nine points. All categories of trucks were considered for this study, which are in the MCD database.
The study found the number of commercial vehicles, excluding taxis, entering Delhi every day through the these entry points is 38,588, about 71% higher than what MCD claims. If the same trend is extrapolated to about 127 entry points, then the total figure of commercial vehicles entering Delhi appears to be 52,146. If one considers the average number of commercial vehicles entering and exiting the city daily, it will be about 85,799 vehicles through the nine entry points. But according to MCD’s data provided to EPCA, the figure is 16,000 vehicles, far less than what the CSE study found.
In a separate study, CSE estimated the pollution load from these trucks by calculating emission factors of different types of vehicles (with certain assumptions made for age and generation). According to estimates, Delhi’s own vehicles may be contributing to about 62% of PM 2.5 and 68% of the NOx load. But the trucks entering Delhi contribute to 30% of PM 2.5 and 22% of NOx load. “Our studies have shown a perfect match between air pollution levels and truck movement. There is a spike in air pollution when trucks enter the city. Addressing this issue can give us substantial relief this winter,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, head of CSE’s clean air campaign.
CSE had earlier assessed the pollution caused by non-destined commercial vehicles in a rapid survey where truck drivers on NH 1 and NH 10 were asked about their origin and destination. It found about 23% of all commercial vehicles on NH1 were non-destined. This is in sharp contrast to MCD’s data that claims only 0.3% of the total commercial vehicles are non-destined.
EPCA in its report said it is clear the inordinate delay in building the two peripheral expressways—western and eastern—is costing the city massively in terms of air pollution. While the western expressway may not be completed before July 2018, the eastern expressway is likely to be operational by July 2018. There are alternative routes that these trucks can take, which are about the same distance as plying through Delhi but the main reason why transporters avoid other routes is because it’s cheaper to travel through Delhi.
To address the problem, EPCA has recommended some measures, including addition of a pollution charge to the toll rate. “This charge will reduce the traffic that has options not to travel through Delhi. It will also create conditions for traffic that is not destined for the city to look for alternative routes,” EPCA said. This additional charge could be to the tune of Rs 1,200 for 3-axle trucks, for instance, making the toll rate go up to Rs 1,600.