Combating Air Pollution in Delhi

(Full disclosure: I'm currently leading a task force on air pollution at the Delhi Dialogue Commission, a think tank of the Delhi government.)

The government of Delhi recently announced several measures to combat the hazardous levels of air pollution in the city. This includes emergency measures to reduce some of the eighty daily deaths from the current spike in cardiopulmonary cases in Delhi’s hospitals. It also declared some medium- and long-term actions, such as shutting down one coal power plant and possibly another; raising of vehicle and fuel emissions standards from Bharat IV to VI in just one year (a very bold move that leapfrogs Bharat V entirely, pulling in Bharat VI earlier than anyone had thought possible); limiting operating hours and enforcing emission standards for diesel trucks entering Delhi; adding more bus and metro services; taking steps to reduce road dust, and the open burning of trash, leaves, and other biomass in Delhi.

What intrigues me is how many of the chatterati have focused on the alternate-day driving restrictions for a fortnight (based on the license plate’s even/odd last digit) to the exclusion of other measures. Is this because it’s the only measure that calls for a bit of sacrifice from them? They’re posting articles on why such rationing of road space won’t work, or how car owners will rush to buy cheap used cars that’ll be even more polluting. They’re conveniently ignoring the fact that this is a 15-day emergency measure, that no rich man is likely to buy another car for the 8 out of 15 days that he won’t be able to drive his primary car. The complainers seem to include: (1) entitled upper-class folks who forget that driving is not a right but a privilege, that the right to non-toxic air precedes the right to drive; and (2) those who have no idea how bad Delhi’s air is right now and what it’s doing to our bodies.

Second, even if this measure became permanent at a future date (after due analysis and debate), it’ll likely happen after scaling up public transportation, in certain zones before others, and during certain hours. Designed right, it’ll accompany disincentives for diesel (which emits 7.5 times more PM 2.5 than petrol), reclaiming sidewalks for pedestrians, bike lanes, and a much higher cost of car ownership. For instance, we could charge an annual registration fee that rises steeply for two or more cars in a household (to prevent out-of-state registrations, it’d require the driver’s main residence to be the registered address), raise parking fees, limit and enforce parking in designated spaces, etc. To deter people from buying a second car to beat driving restrictions, its license plate could be given the same last digit as their first car, or the permitted days for a car could be shuffled every three months. More options might become possible in due course (when we have an up-to-date vehicle registration database), such as congestion pricing in certain zones and issuing citations via traffic cameras. That some devious little minds may find ways to beat the system is hardly a good argument against trying to redesign our transport systems and urban spaces.

No doubt there be some problems in implementing the 15-day even/odd policy. But given the public health emergency on our hands, this option simply has to be tried. It has worked as an emergency measure against air pollution in many world cities. Even scientists do not agree on vehicular traffic’s contribution to total pollution but on a recent car free day in Delhi, pollution dropped considerably. More importantly, 55% of Delhi’s population lives within 500m of major roads, so their wintertime exposure to vehicular pollution is especially high. About 25% of all rides in Delhi happen on private cars and two-wheelers. Yet these private vehicles monopolize our shared spaces and cause disproportionately higher pollution. If private vehicles aren’t allowed on alternate days for a fortnight, at most 13% more riders will have to get around like how the other 75% do today—via 4 million rides on buses, 2.5 million on the metro, taxis, auto-rickshaws, bicycles, on foot, etc. Why not see these 15 days as an opportunity to find out how our public transportation needs to scale up and where, and how/if that could be combined with some form of road space rationing? Besides, even if we see only 30% fewer cars on these even/odd days, it’ll reduce traffic congestion in Delhi. Traffic will flow more easily, reducing emissions due to idling in traffic jams, allowing buses to move faster, and kicking up less dust. Hey, people may even discover carpooling! Let’s measure what it does to our city. Let’s experiment!

Again: Driving is not a right, it’s a privilege. It has a social cost. We need to quit empathizing with those inconvenienced by this emergency measure. Because you know what? — their daily driving causes a lot worse than inconvenience to our lungs. When 40% of our kids are failing lung capacity tests (with irreversible lung damage), it’s time to try various measures and see what works—and adapt! Of course, I wish the Delhi government had acted sooner and done even more. For instance, it decided not to issue health advisories, nor help vulnerable groups with free or low-cost pollution masks (e.g., traffic cops, auto-drivers, street vendors), nor make LPG cylinders easily available to the migrant poor who end up burning firewood, kerosene, and dung. This is a shame. But politics is the art of the possible, as I realized afresh watching the politicians and the bureaucrats at the Delhi secretariat leading up to this announcement. I think these measures will go a long way in raising public awareness of air pollution, reducing it in the short-term, and opening the door for the next round of difficult, unpopular, yet necessary initiatives.
____________________

NB: A lightly edited version of this piece appeared on Scroll.in.

Comments

[Ramesh Jain]

Thanks for this.
Desperate situations require desperate measures. If we don't act, the situation will keep getting worse. Beijing and China has demonstrated that such measures do work.

Full support to your efforts in controlling air quality to improve quality of life.

[samir]

One small suggestion,trucks which are carrying building materials like sand,stone dust, cement bags should be properly air tight covers rather than a polythene cover.

[Koustubh]

Great initiative, has worked in many cities across the world. Driving is a privilege, not right!

My four cents, in case already not considered:
1. A majority of traffic jams are caused by stalling/breaking down vehicles. Rapid tow away services, perhaps linked with some mobile apps may prevent long traffic jams.

2. Also, the way every aircraft is thoroughly checked every time before it takes off, why not make it mandatory for all public transport to be thoroughly investigated before getting out of depot, and any breakdowns should lead to penalties.

3. Huge jams often also caused by small accidents led fights with vehicles parked in the middle of the road. Advertisements about simple procedures (now that everybody carries phones, should be easy to get photographic evidence) post an accident that are in tune with the needs of insurance companies may also prevent jams. Any on-road sparring should be penalized heavily.

4. Wrong parking is another cause of massive jams in most areas. Strict penalties to violation of parking lines a must.

[Vivek]

I lived in Beijing between 2008-2012 - both my kids were born there and I never felt the need for a car. I used public transport - taxis and metro or walked. The city has wide pavements - for walking and not for parking cars. It is safe - me and my wife walked anytime of the night without feeling someone will rob us or try to molest her. The odd/even was one of the measures - polluting factories, power stations were shut down as emergency measures - never saw a truck within the main city but once the Olympics were over - the PM 2.5 measurements shot off the scale many times. The taxis (they don't have autos) never refused or over-charged. The weather is favourable to walk. Now let's take delhi - is it safe to walk on delhi roads? As we don't have pavements stacked with parked cars - one has to share the roads with trucks, cars, buses who treat pedestrians as ants (death on roads prove it), temperatures go up to 46 & beyond in summer, autos either refuse if one wants to go in a direction they don't want or overcharge, it is unsafe after dark for women. Unless the government makes it safe and comfortable for people to take public transport - this odd/ even measure looks like a knee jerk reaction.

[Gireesh]

i feel, It wont work here, because many reasons, no public transport, no implementing (genuine) officer we have, this will drive to more corruption. I use my car to pick-up and drop my children from school. Because hardly any auto driver willing to drop them, or demand heavy fares, neither DTC buses (they hate children in uniform). My wife go through this very often when i am out of station. My vehicle is not a polluting vehicle, my car is purely for family purposes. How can I leave my car when I need it !! Yes i am public transport friendly person, I believe. But tell me where is the proper public transport system. I am one of the angry frustrated Indian. Still believe that altogether we can bring changes. JAI HIND

[Minakshi]

What's stopping Delhi and Gurgaon from inviting Dutch innovator Daan Roosgaarde who sets up giant outdoor air purifiers - he is already in discussions with Beijing and our own Mumbai. Read more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-15/a-dutch-design-studio-s-smog-eating-tower

[Aashish]

There is no doubt that we need some drastic change to reduce the air pollution however I strongly believe that we need a better plan, something more reasonable and long lasting. Government should provide some incentive to the 1st time car buyers to by CNG installed cars and should promote existing car owners to switch to CNG which is a much cleaner fuel. Even for this,Delhi doesn't have the infrastructure,there are very few CNG filling stations and there's always a queue.

I have a CNG car and travel from Gurgaon to Noida everyday and work night shifts. I reach office by 3:30 pm and leaves from office for home at around 1:30 to 2:00 am. There is no public transport available during this time, how will people like me commute from office to home after mid-night and believe me Gurgaon-Noida is a very long distance and can’t be covered by any other way during these hours.

I would suggest that you need to consider this too and force this on people with regular work timings and probably think of allowing cars with CNG who work such hours and following this even/odd days is not feasible for them.

[Rajiv Agrawal]

No doubt that whole of Delhi-NCR (not just Delhi alone) needs multi-pronged strategy to combat all elements of air pollution i.e. due to vehicles (Trucks, Cars, Bikes using any fuel), frequent unsettling of Dust, burning of waste / biomass etc.

The debate on efficacy of any one specific measure like odd-even plate no., suspending new diesel registration, phasing out 10yr. old vehicles (small percent of total population) etc. neither mean stopping specific actions nor the end of road for other innovative solutions.

As per news paper's reported data, cars have 2.6% share of Delhi's total pollution load or 16% of total vehicular pollution. Off-late, 2-wheeler with 18% of pollution load are being left out of even-odd formula due to populist measure. Still we can hope some reduction in traffic will lead to lesser jams & idling.

Two days back newspaper reported suggestion to import BS-V fuel for Delhi to pre-pone it from 2019 but vehicle manufacturers are not yet ready. Actual implementation of Bharat Stage V & VI norms are 5-8 years away. Thus for larger benefit, we immediately need alternative technology that can address whole of vehicular pollution.

The technical root cause of vehicular pollution is inherent inefficiency of combustion (even for best designed engines) and its gradual deterioration over few lac KM life of these engines.

Recently I came across a Japanese enzyme technology that does holistic management of fuel an engine to improves this technical aspect and has been in use for last 20 years across world. The reported results show 20% to 60% pollution reduction along with 5% to 20% fuel savings, depending on the engine condition. As I understand the product had been largely targeted towards end-users but in many European countries the Enzyme pre-mixed fuel is also sold as Branded Premium Fuel that has received fantastic consumer response but also resistance from deep-pocketed competitions

The Diesel from BS-II to BS-VI is only different in terms of reduced Sulfur but it also has side-effect due to reduced lubrication & harm to engine. Oil companies have to add more and stronger synthetic chemicals as lubricating additives. Some people even refer it as Teflon diesel. Though claimed to be harmless, but will general public ever know the actual long-term effects / study / results.

On the other hand, the published fuel test results show that the enzymes improves the fuel quality itself, some thing not done by BS (euro)fuel norms. Moreover BS norms can't help engine to maintain its internal condition

I suggested this technology to both Central and Delhi Govt. and have been doing daily follow-up for last few weeks so that the citizens of Delhi-NCR can get relief in this winter season itself.

After a while, at least Delhi CM's office directed me to DDC and last week it is informed that DDC Task force on pollution will contact me.

I hope for an early discussion for possible immediate implementation of technical solution that can reduce overall vehicular pollution by 20% to 60% and bring great relief to all of us.