Rising RSPM makes Raipur 2nd most polluted city in India

Outdoor air pollution 5th largest killer in country

CMSR holds workshop on sustainable urban transport, emission standards, air quality & impact on health

Yogesh Mishra

Raipur/Kolkata, July 29, 2013

Sumit Sharma

Raipur has become India’s second most polluted city after Ghaziabad with increasing annual average concentration of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM).  The revelation was made by The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) Sumit Sharma during regional workshop and open forum for media and civil society organisations (CSOs) on sustainable urban transport, emission standards, air quality and impact on health organised by CMSR Consultants in Kolkata recently.

Dr Sudakshina Gupta

Talking on vehicular emission norms – need for more stringent measures, Sharma said central pollution control board’s national air quality monitoring programme (NAMP) had found violation of RSPM standards in 83% of Indian cities.

Bhaswati Goswami

He said according to latest report of WHO’s Global Burden of Disease outdoor air pollution is fifth largest killer in India. “Polluting vehicles usually cause respiratory, lung and cardiovascular diseases. Almost six lakh people die annually across the country due to air pollution,” he added.

Yogesh Mishra

He said more the number of vehicles, more would be air pollution. He informed that 140 million vehicles were registered in the country by 2011. “In 2010-11, growth rate of registered motor vehicles was almost three times the growth of road network,” he added.

James Meiteicha

He said introduction of emission standards like Bharat Stage (BS) II, III and IV in vehicles had somewhat improved air quality in cities, but considering rising pollution level in urban areas, the latest norm BS IV should be made mandatory in entire country. Presently, BS IV is being implemented in just 13 cities of the country while vehicles in remaining cities are BS III compliant.

Participants

Jayanta Basu

He felt roadmap for improved fuel could be made by implementing one fuel-one emission standard for whole country and promoting CNG/LPG-based vehicles. Meanwhile, the oil refineries should make necessary arrangements to fulfill demands of ultra-low-sulphur diesel (ULSD) and automobile sector too should plan to manufacture vehicles accordingly, he added.

The other speakers in the workshop were Dr Sudakshina Gupta (from department of economic, University of Calcutta) who deliberated on urban transport scenario in Kolkata, Bhaswati Goswami (from Centre for North-East Studies and Policy Research) who briefed about study conducted by her organisation on increasing vehicular population and pollution in north-east region, James Meiteicha (from Manipur Cycle Club) who told how he and his friends promoted cycling as a popular means of transportation in his state and Kolkata-based senior journalist Jayanta Basu who talked on role of media in supporting cause of sustainable urban transport.

Participants

Earlier, Narender Yadav director communications CMSR Consultants informed that Kolkata’s regional workshop was third in series after Bangalore and Pune. “We will organise fourth and concluding regional workshop in New Delhi in second fortnight of August 2013. We will continue to create awareness about sustainable urban transport in future too,” he said. On the occasion, he was accompanied by Rohit Singh director projects CMSR Consultants.

The participants in the workshop included media persons, representatives of CSOs and PhD scholars from Raipur, New Delhi, Kolkata, Ranchi, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Gangtok and Imphal.

Star rating system must in vehicles: Bandivadekar

Anup Bandivadekar

Speaking on cleaner vehicles and fuels for India, Washington-based Anup Bandivadekar from International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) said India’s vehicular emission as well as fuel quality standards were almost 6-10 years behind European countries, USA, Brazil, Thailand, South Africa and China.

He said India had poor public transport system as it lacked proper planning and effective policy.

Participants

He suggested that India should adopt star rating system based on efficiency in vehicles to check pollution.

“The country has by far achieved small targets like removing lead from all fuels, bringing down sulphur level, benzene level and aromatic content in gasoline and increasing octane number in gasoline.  However, it needs to establish evaporative emission standards for two and three-wheelers, strictly implement refuelling evaporative emission norms in light motor vehicles and make BS IV mandatory for commercial vehicles and buses,” he added.

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