The biggest environmental debate in 2015 was undoubtedly about the rising air pollution. As air quality in Delhi generated noise, the AAP Government took a series of measures. A national air quality index was launched to provide real-time information to people in Delhi. Stricter norms were set for some industries, and online monitoring of emissions and liquid effluents were prescribed for some.
Courts too stepped in. Smoke-spewing old diesel vehicles were sought to be banned, trucks entering Delhi asked to pay pollution tax. After prolong debate, the AAP Government decided to unveil odd-even formula so that pollution could be contained. The Ministry held meetings of the States around Delhi and asked them to put an end to crop burning. Another major cause of air pollution, construction material and waste, was dealt with by tightening waste management rules.
The activists had demanded measures varying from use of clean fuel to limiting the number of vehicles on the roads; and from improving public transport to providing alternate roads bypassing Delhi for non-destined vehicles. The courts stepped in and then the Delhi Government woke up to the need of the hour and decided to take a series of measures including car-free days and even-odd scheme. However, it is too early to predict the outcome of the most-talked about formula as all depends on how it is implemented in 2016.
All told, 2015 would be marked as the watershed year in battle against pollution. Nevertheless, 2015 was the year when conversations on air pollution and public transport moved from behind the closed doors of the Secretariat and the Transport Department to the news rooms, and eventually to the drawing rooms of the Delhiites.
As Delhi gets ready for the even-odd experiment kicking off on Friday, the bigger question is what will happen after the 15 days of the experiment get overIJ Even if the experiment is successful, will Delhi go back to the usual polluted air, traffic jams and fight for survival on the public transport system (as 3,000 additional buses pressed into service for the experiment will be removed)IJ
Notably, before the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, it was identified that Delhi had a requirement of 11,000 buses. The irony is that the total number of buses in Delhi never reached that number and it is still barely half of that despite a significant increase in the population.
Currently, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) are mandated to run 5,500 buses each. However, neither DTC nor DIMTS has a fleet as per its mandated strength. While DTC currently has a fleet of around 4,700 buses, DIMTS is running barely 1,200 buses. Both have failed to procure any new bus for the last three to four years despite an increase in demand.
What makes the situation even worse is that many of the buses run by the DTC are old standard-floor buses that will soon need to be phased out, making the already overburdened public transport system even more strained.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government’s plan to issue 10,000 new auto permits faced a serious hurdle after allegations of corruption in issuing the permits. Following this, over 900 auto permits were cancelled.
Almost every day Delhi struggles to pick up its pace with its ever increasing vehicle population. But notably, the road length has not significantly increased with almost no new roads being built in 2015.
On a positive note, however, Delhi can expect around 2,000 new buses to be added to the fleet which is expected to come as a huge relief to the commuters. The Delhi Government had announced earlier this year that it is planning to procure 10,000 new buses. It also submitted to a High Court Bench that 1,380 of those buses will arrive by April 1, 2016.
Delhi Metro has also emerged as a lifeline of Delhi taking lakhs of passengers to their destinations every day. 2015 saw Delhi Metro reaching the satellite town of Faridabad on one side and to ITO on the other side. It also saw the extension of Yellow line to Samaypur Badli.
2016 is expected to witness the completion of the Phase III of Delhi metro adding 118 more kilometers to an already 213-kilometre long network. It will see the extension of Violet line from ITO to Kashmere Gate apart from opening of Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor, Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor, Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor and Mundka Bahadurgarh corridor.
Besides, Delhi Metro is also planning to convert all of its 4-coach and 6-coach metro trains into 8-coach trains in 2016. For the same, Delhi Metro has applied for a loan of around Rs 4,000 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency which had also provided a loan of over Rs 19,000 crore to DMRC for its Phase III network.
The question is if that would be enough not only in catering to the growing population, but also in offering an alternative to car owners to leave their vehicles and use public transportIJ Or will the 15-day experiment only enforce the idea of owning a car to survive in DelhiIJ