HYDERABAD: A few years ago, the Hyderabad Regional Transport Authority (RTA) ceased the registration of diesel-run auto-rickshaws. The move, which was taken to curb air pollution, means that the three-wheelers cannot ply on the city road. As a result, LPG and CNG were left as the only fuels for the auto drivers to operate on.
Despite the shift towards eco-friendly fuel, multiple autos in a total fleet of around 1.5 lakh could still be seen emitting visible smoke.
While the auto-drivers contended that the smoke spews as a result of a shift in piston-setting by them to ensure the smoothness of the engine after greasing it with 2T oil, irrespective of the fuel they use, the Pollution Control Board authorities countered it. “The visible smoke arises primarily from diesel-run autos due to the adulteration of diesel and petrol with kerosene, overloading of passengers, low quality of 2T oil used in abundance, and lack of maintenance, including regular pollution checks,”
WG Prasanna, senior social scientist at TSPCB, told TNIE.
Diesel autos in Hyderabad?
When TNIE spoke to the auto drivers as well as the RTA authorities, most of them pointed out that the drivers and owners buy and register diesel-run autos in other districts before putting them on the road in Hyderabad.
This is done due to numerous reasons, said Das, an auto driver stationed near Panjagutta auto-stand for nearly 15 years now.
“The permits for diesel autos in districts are significantly less than the permits required to run the CNG/LPG autos in Hyderabad. Then, they also give mileage around 40 to 45 km/litre, while the rest provide only 18 to 20 km per litre,” he told TNIE, adding that the savings are more in diesel-run autos.
While the total cost of buying and obtaining permits for gas-run autos amounts between Rs 5 and Rs 6 lakh in the city, the same for the autos costs between Rs 2.5 and Rs 3 lakh for the three-wheelers in districts, irrespective of the fuel. Another reason the drivers prefer to switch to the state capital is for extra income.
“In districts, we have to mostly run on a sharing basis, and the earnings are not enough even after covering multiple rounds. But in Hyderabad, even a single ride provides a lucrative amount,” said Mohammed Asad, a driver at the Nampally railway station.
His fellow driver Abdullah Bin Yahiya added that even though diesel-run autos demand higher maintenance, they can bear more passengers than autos running on other fuels.
Meanwhile, a high number of auto-drivers rent their vehicles. “If the owner and driver are the same, they are concerned about their vehicles. But if they are separate, the owner is usually bothered about the money rather than the quality and maintenance of the vehicle,” PCB’s Prasanna said, adding that the “rent-seeking behaviour” of owners is like owning an old horse and giving it on rent.
‘Impossible to track’
Acknowledging that diesel-run autos emit more smoke than the others, sources at the RTA told TNIE, “Many people buy autos from Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Jogulamba Gadwal, and other districts and run them without a permit within the GHMC limits.”
The sources remarked that it is practically impossible to track and catch the diesel-run autos as the three-wheelers here don’t have GPS fitted in them like they are in Delhi, claiming that the RTA regularly checks the pollution emission levels of these autos and the city permit but not the fuel type.
Meanwhile, the RTA has started giving permits for 2,500 EV autos, which relatively cost more than oil and gas-run autos, the officials said.