‘Triple e-bus fleet, use Beijing model’

TRANSPORT EMISSIONS CENTRALTO CAPITALS TOXIC AIR

- NITIN KUMAR & SANDIP DAS

BREATHABLE AIR CAN'T bea luxury fora country aspiring to be an economic superpower.

But for the millions of inhabitants of the national capital region (NCR), and several other cities in the country, the toxicity of the air they inhale is something that they feel, experience and is very palpable.

They no longer need the daily nuggets of information about the rising Air Quality Index (AQI), the high PM2.5 level to appreciate the severity of the situation.

For the record, the NCR and adjoining areas invariably shift to a spell of “very poor” or “servere” air quality with intermittent falls to the “hazardous” category, ahead of the winter onset.

But the fact is during most parts of the year, except for certain short periods of heavy monsoon rains, Delhi's air remains abysmally poor. The authorities are reportedly going to get another study conducted to determine the relative contribution of various air pollutants, but experts contend instead of a more accurate “source apportionment,” quick, concrete action to curb the quantum of pollutants is what the city needs at this hour.

Transport sector's share in emissions is the highest, and serves asa sort of “critical mass” when it comes to accumulation ofairpollutants.Asituation similartowhat NCRis nowwitnessing was experienced in Chinese cities like Beijing a couple of decades ago.

However, despite China being the world's largest automobile producer andconsumer, it has managed toreversethe air quality deterioration of its cities.