Concerned about the high levels of air pollution in the city due to a rapidly growing vehicular population, a study by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) suggested stringent recommendations like banning commercial vehicles that are more than 10 years old as well as imposing congestion charges and creating no-vehicle zones.
Over 25 lakh vehicles
“With over 25 lakh vehicles in the city already, measures like congestion charges and increased parking charges — like they have in London and Singapore — would work well to reduce air pollution,” R.K. Pachauri, Director-General, TERI, said in an audio-visual address to participants at a half-day workshop on ‘Source Apportionment Study' here Wednesday.
He added that as commercial vehicles were major polluters in cities, those more than 10 years old should be banned by 2012, and the ban reviewed again in 2017.
Monitoring stations
The study is part of a report which identified air pollution sources in six cities across the country. In Bangalore, the study was conducted by TERI, which set up seven monitoring stations across the city — areas of high traffic density such as Central Silk Board junction and Victoria Road, residential layouts of Domlur and Kammanahalli, Peenya Industrial Estate, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, and the village of Kannamangala. The data was collected over three seasons — summer, winter and post-monsoon.
The study said that major pollutants in the city were transport vehicles, followed by diesel generators and restaurants. Industries were minor contributors in the city, but were high pollutants on the outskirts, like Peenya.
Other suggestions
In order to reduce emission load on the city by 2017, the study suggested the use of vehicular emission norms like BS-V and BS-VI, instead of the current BS-IV imposed in certain cities of the country. Other recommendations included allowing trucks to only ply on the peripheral ring roads, cleaner fuels in public vehicles, better regulation of construction practices, and wall-to-wall paving of roads to reduce dust, among others.
The report was adopted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, said Dr. Pachauri, and hoped that an action plan would be created to ensure the recommendations do not remain only on paper. The workshop, held at the Parisara Bhavan, was organised by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and TERI.
