Air quality Worsens: Chandigarh has the highest density of vehicles in the nation
Chandigarh: Number of vehicles increase, air quality worsens
At 878 vehicles per 1000 people, City Beautiful has the highest density of vehicles in the country, making its air quality go from bad to worse.
Last year, the average Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in the city stood at 118 micrograms per cubic metre (mpcm), which is almost double the safe limit of 60 mpcm as per the ambient air quality standards of India.
RSPM is more harmful than suspended particulate matter because these particles are much smaller and penetrate deeper into the lungs making you more vulnerable to heart disease, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and lung cancer.
Dr SK Jindal, former head of pulmonary department, PGIMER, says he has seen a 10% increase in the number of people suffering from asthma as compared to last year.
“The number of people suffering from respiratory disorders has increased manifold, and the main reason remains air pollution due to the uncontrolled increase in the number of vehicles. The vehicular emissions are very harmful and chronic exposure to them causes respiratory disorders.”
In the last 50 years, Chandigarh has seen its population increase nine-fold from 1051 persons per square metre in 1961 to 9,252 in 2011. This was accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of vehicles, which contribute the most to the RSPM levels.
On average, every car in the city releases over 40 g of particulate matter per trip, much worse than Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Jaipur. In contrast, public transport releases less than 10 grams.
Vivek Pandey, a scientist with the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, says, “The emission levels are rising every year as the number of vehicles on the roads are increasing with no change in the length of the roads. This has a very harmful impact on the quality of air.”
Chandigarh has the lowest average trip length and second lowest share on public transport of all the cities. Kolkata also roughly has the same figure, but its average trip length by car is also the same, while for Chandigarh it is over 10 kms.
Surprisingly, even though Chandigarh’s fixation with four-wheelers is well-known, about 50% of vehicles in the city are two-wheelers.
Chandigarh has the worst ratio between privately owned vehicles and public transport.
Chandigarh also has the highest per trip energy consumption. This means each time a Chandigarh citizen makes a trip on his or her vehicle, more energy is expelled than in any of the 14 cities.
-PTC News
