WE ARE CONSTANTLY DILUTING THE POLLUTION STANDARDS

Dinesh Mohan, professor and head of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, has specialised in safety technology. In the following interview with Osama Manzar, he talks about various reasons and aspects of road pollution and ways of minimising it
When we talk about road pollution, .what factors come to mind?
The main problem here, is that we are- encouraging liberalis without any protocol about its effects. If you hate liberalisation of production of technology that anyone can produce anything, then along- with that there should be liberalization of thought, to do with the protection of people’s heal th. Unfortunately, we are very conservative about protecting people’s health. And, nowhere in the world has health improved because of competition among industrialists.
One of our biggest problem on roads is that public transport is not being encouraged. Unless we plan the traffic on roads, with a judicious mix of public transport, bicycles, pedestrians and cars, it will be very difficult to reduce pollution. The other important point is technology, which is a slow ‘process, in the sense that pollution will reduce as the old fleet gets replaced by. new ones. It cannot happen suddenly. What - can be done faster is to change - the way people travel.
What are the main reasons for road pollution?
The main reason is far too many -vehicles, especially, two-’ wheelers, which is the most inefficient form of - transport. One two-wheeler, for transporting one person, produces 5,200 times more carbon monoxide - (CO) and carbon dioxide (C02) and other pollutants than a bus. So, a bus carries almost 70 people in Delhi, during rush hours, and we have problems of 70 scooters instead of one bus, resulting in very high pollution.
What one could do immediately—even - over a period, of three-four years—is to increase the taxation on scooter as car use. Ironically, Indians pay the lowest road tax compared to any society in the world. In my opinion, a car owner should pay at least Rs 3,500 a year as road tax. And a scooterist should pay at least Rs 2,500 per year. Once it is done, beside the parallel -provision of comfortable buses, people will automatically shift from scooters and cars to buses. We can take the example of Bombay, which has better public transportation. Therefore, pollution in Delhi is a result of policy. The Government has decided ,that there should be pollution in Delhi.
What kind of policy do we need to minimise road pollution?
According to our studies, for the income levels that we have in Delhi, you have to have combination of people shifting ff two-wheelers to bicycle on the one hand and buses on other hand, depending on the distance to be coverod.
The study also shows that all three-lane roads are functioning like two-lane roads and two lane roads are functioning like one-lane roads. Eventually, more than 3.5 ft ride roads are wasted all over Delhi, because bicycle paths are not available. And the fact remains that how low the density of bicycles may be, at least one lane will always be left unused by the vehicles.
So, it -is very naive of the planners to think that we do not have money for bicycle paths. What they are actually doing is providing do facto bicycle paths which are neither safe not cost-effective.
What do you think should be the pollution standard?
Pollution level is already high enough in Delhi. All policy makers and industrialists com plain in the evening, at home and over cocktails that how bad the air s and that their children are -suffering from all kind .of problems due to high pollution in the city. Ironically, in the afternoon, the same people make ‘policies and rules which make it worse. The pollution. can be reduced: One, by area-wide measures, le., that is changing the demand pattern of, -what vehicles people use. and, second, is to improve the quality and use of those vehicles. In addition, you must have very strict pollution standards for the new vehicles which are going to be manufactured.
So, automatically, in 10 years’, time, the pollution level will come down. But the fact of the moment is- that we are constantly ‘diluting the pollution standards.
How far are you In agreement with the feasibility of the catalytic converters?
I think, the catalytic converters should be encouraged and also, we should have the provision of both leaded and unleaded petrol at all petrol pumps. Because lead is a horrible toxic. And, rich people transfer lead from their vehicles to poor people’s children.
Trams are been planned for Delhi, Do you think it Is a right step?
No. It is rubbish. I wonder if even 25 km of the tramline could be built at the cost which has been revealed by the Government. It is far too less than what is required. Also, according to industry sources, they are only interested in real, estate business. Moreover, tram is going to create more pollution including noise pollution. Because any corridor having more business and crowds in the surrounding area, is going to create more pollution, by means of increased travel demands.