With the burgeoning vehicular population in Chandigarh taking toll on city’s air quality, the UT Administration is now conducting a study on the road capacity here besides exploring various possibilities to ease traffic congestion in the city.
Delhi’s model of odd-even formula for plying of private vehicles is among various measures being studied by the UT Administration in the wake of high level of pollution and traffic congestion in Chandigarh.
With the city denizens’ obsession with the fuel cars continuing unabated in the recent years, motor vehicle emissions have become a major source of air pollution in Chandigarh.
“40 percent of the pollution in Chandigarh is due to motor vehicle emissions. We are working to deal with the problem of increasing vehicular population here. A study is being conducted by Transport Department here on road capacity and potential of Chandigarh. After this study, we will make policies accordingly to address the issue,” said TC Nautiyal, Member Secretary, Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee while talking to The Pioneer
Road capacity refers to the maximum traffic flow obtainable on a given roadway using all available lanes and is usually expressed in vehicles per hour or vehicles per day. Road capacity values are critical to analyze the capacity potential of roads in a city.
“Since the number of private vehicles is increasing here, the study will be helpful in knowing the existing potential of roads in Chandigarh,” he said.
TC Nautiyal further said that the Department is also examining the odd-even scheme implemented in Delhi for private vehicles and other models that can be implemented here.
Delhi Government has twice implemented the odd-even formula to reduce the city’s record-high air pollution by limiting the number of cars on streets. Under this, those with registration numbers ending in odd digits are allowed to ply on odd dates and those ending in even digits run on even dates.
Nautiyal said that such models can be implemented in case the air quality index crosses 400 in the city.
The data with the CPCC shows that the air quality index (AQI) reported at three locations — Sector 22 (residential), Sector 17 (commercial) and Sector 12 (silence zone) — was 311 microgram per cubic metre, 177 microgram per cubic metre and 297 microgram per cubic metre respectively during last year’s Diwali against the permissible limit of 100 microgram per cubic metre.
A good AQI should be between 0-100, while 100-200 is termed poor, 200-300 very poor and 300-400 severe.
According to the officials in UT Traffic Police, traffic is bursting at its seams at all the main roads between 8.30 am and 11.30 am, 1.30 pm and 2.45 pm and 5 pm and 7.45 pm in Chandigarh.
Notably, the State of Environment Report, Chandigarh (SOEC) 2018 released recently had stated that among the four major air pollutants that are monitored here, PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentration in Chandigarh’s air is much more than the permissible limits while SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NOx (nitrogen oxide) are within permissible limits (40 µg/m3 and 50 µg/m3 respectively).
Chandigarh has over 2 vehicle per capita household, making it the city with highest density of vehicles, the report stated adding that the vehicle emissions have become the major reason of pollution in the city. The percentage increase in the total number of vehicles in Chandigarh for more than over a decade (2007-2018) has been over 24.5.
As per the records of UT Registering and Licensing Authority Department, a total of 16756 cars or jeeps and more than 27473 two wheelers were registered within the city last year compared to 13812 cars or jeeps and 19170 two wheelers in 2007.
After one year of its establishment, the city had around 940 vehicles and the number of vehicles is more than 10 lakh now.
The SOEC report further stated, “Owing to maximum vehicular density, Chandigarh suffers from highest per trip energy consumption. The population density during the last five decades (1961-2011) has increased nine fold, from 1051 to 9252 persons per sq km. due to this population explosion and lack of awareness, there has been unprecedented increase in reckless human activities like fire cracker bursting during festival seasons, stubble burning, open waste burning etc leading to elevated levels of RSPM in the city.”
High pollution levels in Chandigarh
CPCC observations reveal that the levels of RSPM (PM10) have slight variations over the last five years (2014-2018). The lowest RSPM level in the city has been monitored at Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12 (89.6 average/5 year) while the highest RSPM level were observed at the monitoring point located at Industrial Area, Phase (116.8 avg/5 year) followed by IMTECH Sector – 39 (100.2 avg/5 year) against the permissible limit of 60 ug/m3.
The average PM 2.5 level in the Industrial Area was 58 µ/m3, highest in the city against the permissible level of 40 µg/m3.
Both PM 10- (particulate matters with diameter of 10 microns or less) and PM2.5 (particulate matters less than 2.5 microns)-form of air pollution, can cause severe health problems.
The CPCC monitors ambient air quality at six major places including Panjab University, Industrial Area Kaimbwala village, IMTECH, Sector 39, Government College of Commerce and Business Administration, Sector 50.
