Choking on fumes in Delhi

The air over Delhi/NCR is thick with pollutants as it is every winter, only this year it appears to be worse.

Many years ago, a PIL lodged by the Center for Science and Environment had led to Delhi's public transport switching to CNG. It was a big victory in the war against air pollution.

But in the last few years, matters have again worsened. People blame the number of cars on the roads, but the problem isn't the number of cars, it's the type of cars and the type of fuel. I'm sure my Honda cars spit out cleaner air than what they take in! The pollution checkers often ask me, looking at their monitors in disbelief, "Gaadi ka engine on hai ki nahin?"

Look at the accompanying photos to see where the pollution is coming from. Of course old "tempos" are polluting, especially in Gurgaon where they have not been forced to convert to CNG. But are new Tata diesels intrinsically polluting? Chevy Taveras? How can a Toyota diesel engine in an Innova generate so much smoke? Is the diesel fuel being badly adulterated? A lot of questions need to be answered before the winter sky in Delhi/NCR will be blue again.

While all cars on the road theoretically meet the maximum emission norms and get a pollution-under-control certificate periodically (often with money changing hands or with some temporary tinkering with the engine), I would dearly like to know what even these measured emission levels are, categorized by car type/year. While the limits for diesel vehicles are much more generous than those for petrol vehicles, I am sure that there will be far more diesel vehicles coming in just below the limits than petrol ones.

Diesel is subsidized with respect to petrol, so more people buy diesel cars, but we all pay for this behavior with our health (a massive negative externality). I know there are super-clean diesel engines available, but apparently not on Indian roads. Why can't we restrict the subsidies only to CNG?


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