More vehicles enter Delhi daily than those registered in a year: CSE

The total number of vehicles entering Delhi in a day -- about 5.65 lakh -- is nearly the same as the number of vehicles that got registered in Delhi in 2014-15, 5.69 lakh, a survey by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said on Friday.

This cross-border traffic survey excludes trucks and light commercial vehicles.

"Delhi's pollution troubles are far from over, despite the stringent action against trucks and the odd-and-even experiment," says Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE's Executive Director-Research.

She adds that an equal number of vehicles which are leaving Delhi are contributing to the pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).

"Despite implementing a massive CNG programme, diesel related pollution is rising. While diesel fuel use is still high in Delhi, total number of diesel cars, taxis and SUVs that enter daily are also 2.5 times the diesel vehicles registered in Delhi during 2014-15," the CSE said.

According to the CSE study, all personal and passenger modes coming from outside contribute as much as 22 per cent of the total particulate load, which is the particles or matter of varied sizes emitted from the vehicles. These particles cause different health issues on inhaling.

"Cars are the biggest contributor to particulate load at 43 per cent, followed by SUVs at 23 per cent. Together they contribute 66 per cent of the particulate load," the CSE said.

The study also said that about 46 per cent of the nitrogen oxide load is coming from all incoming traffic.

Urging the government for immediate action to promote the public transport and discourage motorization, Roychowdhury said that the incoming cars have the highest per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (3,031 gram/km), followed by SUVs at 1,919 gm/km, and two-wheelers at 988 gm/km. The CO2 emission traps heat.

The incoming passenger buses have the smallest carbon footprint of 539 gm/km.

"With this trend, how will Delhi-NCR contribute towards India's INDC commitment of reducing energy intensity by 35 per cent by 2030," asks Roychowdhury.

The survey conducted at nine major entry points shows that around 3.07 lakh cars and 1.27 lakh two-wheelers enter Delhi daily. This was related to the influx of total traffic from all the 124 entry points to Delhi, except trucks.

Urging to scale up public transport connectivity, the CSE said that the growing motorization is continuously adding to the toxic risk in Delhi.

"Even though buses are a mere one per cent of the incoming fleet, they carry 30 per cent of the commuters from NCR. There is a huge potential to expand this transport that has been ignored so far. It is extremely worrying that the trend in bus numbers and ridership is declining continuously," the CSE said.

It said that lung cancer incidents have also increased by over 33.3 per cent since the middle of last decade in Delhi.

"The National Cancer Registry Programme shows highest increase in lung cancer risk among all metro cities," a statement said.

The CSE urged for strong fiscal and regulatory measures and force all fuels and technologies to get cleaner.

--IANS

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