(Dr Sarath Guttikunda, Director, Urban Emissions Info, Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Climate Studies, IIT Bombay.)
According to a database put together by the World Health Organization, Delhi is among the top 10 most polluted cities in the world, with sources of particulate pollution ranging from vehicle exhaust, industries, garbage burning, biomass and coal burning for cooking and heating, diesel generator sets, and re-suspended road dust.
Of these most common sources in almost all Indian cities, the most talked about is the transport sector. In Delhi, official estimates put its contribution at no more than 21% to the ambient PM10 pollution.
A recent estimate puts the total number of registered number of vehicles in the NCR region to triple by 2030, at the current rate of passenger and commercial vehicle sales in the region. This means that all the emission and pollution gains that the city of Delhi enjoyed in the last 10 years will be wiped out by end of 2016 and we will be on the path to raising emissions from this sector.
There is little one can do to stop the buying spree, but there are many opportunities for the city authorities to promote less usage of the vehicles - an aggressive campaign to support walking and cycling in the city and a larger push for more buses in the city.
These interventions are not new to the public nor to the authorities, but the implementation part has been slow, which delays any intended gains, if and when public do want to make the shift, not use their personal vehicles, and help the clean air campaign.
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