NEW DELHI: On a day the city’s transport operators, mostly cabbies and auto-rickshaw drivers, pulled their vehicles off the streets to protest the revised Motor Vehicles Act of the Centre, air quality, which has been an abiding concern for residents and the government, showed a marked improvement over other days.
As the strike by United Front of Transport Association (UFTA), an umbrella body of transport operators in the national capital, took effect and sent commuters scrambling for a ride, the Air Quality Index (AQI) across the city registered a slight improvement in comparison to other days.
According to data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the AQIs in the five most polluted areas in the national capital were better than most other days.
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While Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 111, ITO, Burari, Punjabi Bagh and Mandir Marg hit 84, 82, 95 and 107 respectively, slightly up from other days.
However, experts offered a mixed response when quizzed on the impact of vehicular pollution on air quality. “Transport doubtlessly has an impact on air quality.
While there are other factors such as construction involved, it is pollution on the roads that has a direct impact on air quality,” Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, told this newspaper.
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"Speed of vehicles impact air pollution as well. The longer the vehicles are stranded in traffic jams, the higher is the extent of vehicular pollution,” Ram said.
AK Dimri, a professor at the Centre for Environmental Sciences, JNU, said, “Vehicular emissions contribute very little to environmental pollution. The main problem is intermingling of pollutants. Even the ‘Odd-Even’ scheme neither contributes to nor controls pollution.”
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently announced the return of the ‘Odd-Even’ scheme in winter.
Polluting areas see improvement
As transport operators pulled their vehicles off the streets, the five most polluting areas of the city — Anand Vihar, ITO, Burari, Punjabi Bagh and Mandir Marg — recorded an improvement in air quality