NEW DELHI: The inability to access cleaner energy, unawareness of negative health impacts and higher LPG cylinder prices are causing major barriers in mitigating indoor air pollution in Indian households, a study found.
The study “Barriers to Access, Adoption, and Sustained Use of Cleaner Fuels Among Low-Income Households: An Exploratory Study from Delhi and Jharkhand”, was released by senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India and Department of Environment, Government of Delhi.
The exploratory report was to understand the use and perceptions around biomass and LPG, as well as perceptions about household air pollution among women from low-income households in Delhi and Jharkhand. The report was prepared by the non-profit USAID and ASAR.
The report points out that the inability to access of clean fuel is a major reason. It says, that in Delhi, notified community clusters can easily access LPG while non-notified communities rely on biomass. In Jharkhand, women largely use biomass as it is easily available to them.
It also points out unawareness of health impacts due to the burning of biomass. They do not consider indoor smoke due to biomass burning as pollution but rather see it as a temporary discomfort that does not have long-term health implications.
The report underlines the high price of LPG cylinders coupled with the fact that they need to be paid for in one go, making it unaffordable for people from low-income households.
It also points out gender bias in getting a new LPG connection. The report underlines women facing other systemic issues in accessing LPG including the inability to furnish documents to apply for gas connections. Also, the perceptions against the use of LPG also appear as barriers. Women believe that food cooked on LPG causes gastric issues, does not taste good, and that LPG is unsafe to use.
The study recommends campaigns to bring behavioural change and awareness campaigns on the health impacts of biomass burning and building local-level baseline data on the households’ pattern of fuel usage to identify groups. This group of people can be further targeted for interventions to promote the shift to clean cooking fuels.