Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 26 February 2009

Vehicular Pollution

CONTROL TOXIC EMISSIONS OR ELSE…

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

A major concern of both government and society in Europe is environment-related. In the first few years of the millennium, the British automobile industry has been subjected to continuous and increasing stringency of laws, designed to lower emission of noxious gases from motor vehicles. Improvements in engine technology and fuel quality have so far contributed to fuel-efficient and pollution-free vehicles.

Thus, the British automobile industry has important lessons for India, which is emerging as a major producer of passenger cars and other vehicles. There is an increasing infusion of investment by the Japanese, Koreans, Americans and the Germans. Besides, though  the component industry is developing fast, few manufacturers have paid attention to R&D, systems or technology despite enjoying almost uninterrupted growth for decades. Today, the lesson is to focus on niche products, purely on the strength of innovative technology, design and engineering capabilities.

Other than India, air pollution in most South Asian cities comes primarily from transport. In a report way back in 2004, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) revealed that Asia had the highest concentration of two and three wheelers, which were responsible for most of the vehicular pollution. “In many Asian cities, these vehicles amount to anywhere between 50 and 90 per cent of the total vehicle fleet, of which a large percentage is powered by two-stroke engines. The main pollutants are hydrocarbons and particulate matter. Most three-wheeler owners, associations are not willing to accept they have a problem, which makes it difficult for governments to take action.  

Today, most Indians are exposed to dangerous levels of highly toxic gases, including carcinogenic organic compounds through the air they breathe. The levels of air-borne suspended particulate matter in the large metro cities, specially Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai may be controlled to some extent but in Kolkata it far exceeds air quality standards adopted by India and other developing countries. A few years ago, two independent analyses estimated that urban air pollution in the country could be responsible for about 40,000 premature deaths annually (Brandon & Homman 1995, WHO 2002), primarily due to human exposure to elevated levels of particulate matter.

Even in 2006, the Community Environment Monitoring (CEM) report titled ‘Smokescreen Ambient Air Quality in India’ found that the country is “pathetically behind in terms of infrastructure to safeguard its environment or health of people from air pollution”. India’s monitoring is primitive and sadly the world’s fourth largest economy has no standards for most of the toxic and commonly found air pollutants. The air in the country is unfit to breathe, asserts CEM. .

Compared to 1997, the study observed that carbon monoxide levels are down 32 per cent and sulphur dioxide 39 per cent. Recall, that in May 2002, the Delhi government banned the registration of any new two-stroke autos. Today, of the 80,000-odd autos in the city, almost all are running on four-stroke engines. Earlier, the Bombay High Court issued an order in October 2001 to phase out autos 15 years and above conversion to LPG/CNG. According to the Mumbai union of auto-rickshaw & taxi men, there are about a lakh autos of which nearly 95 per cent have converted to LPG/CNG. While the change is remarkable, it has lulled regulators into complacency. The air has never been monitored for toxic gases and therefore has never been regulated for the same. .

Apart from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the two-stroke autos are steadily being replaced with four-stroke engines in other Asian cities, including Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Dhaka. However, Kolkata, Taipei, Hanoi, Kathmandu and Palawan continue to suffer.   

Automobile emissions of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen and sulphur account for over 60 per cent of the air pollution load in our cities. In fact, auto-mobilization in the country has led to critical SPM levels, exceeding one-and-a-half times of the permissible standard in the 57 per cent of monitored Indian cities. So pervasive is the phenomenon that even smaller cities have become victims. India’s top ten hotspots include Raipur, Kanpur, Alwar and Indore not to mention the congested metropolises, specially Kolkata.

Meanwhile, another study by a team of preventive medicine experts in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Network on Pollution & Health (APNPH), revealed that a sudden rise in carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone and lead content in the air puts people with a history of heart ailments at greater risk. This is then possibly one of the reasons for the phenomenal increase in cardio-vascular diseases. 50 per cent of all asthma patients have been traced to air pollution.

Kolkata, where autos were to be banned from January if not converted to four-stroke engines and using LPG, as per Calcutta HC orders, it is estimated that there are presently around 40,000-42,000 such vehicles. Worse, around 25,000 have registration numbers, tax tokens, PUC (pollution under control) certificates, insurance papers but no permits. Meanwhile, a study, being conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) on behalf of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), has revealed that the level of volatile organic compounds (VOC) – chemicals emitted by vehicles – has crossed the danger mark in Kolkata. And, autos are the biggest contributors of pollutants.  

Accordingly, the NEERI proposes to do a chemical mass balance model study to identify the source of the chemicals. It will soon be clear if autos are the real culprits though preliminary studies reveal that they are. VOC has never been measured in Kolkata even though they have been computed in other metros like Delhi and Mumbai.   

It is well known that petrol leads to benzene emission while diesel creates a mixture of harmful gases. Kaata tel or adulterated fuel used by thousands of autos (in Kolkata and other cities) emits harmful chemicals in large volumes such as benzene, carbon monoxide, sulphur, nitrates and carbon dioxide. Benzene emission has been found to be much higher if adulterated fuel is used and this has caused large-scale pollution.  Moreover, VOC penetrates the lungs more easily than suspended particulate matter. The possible health effects of VOC include recurrent headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation, dizziness or nausea, rise in asthma attacks and bronchitis and pneumonia.

Statistics reveal that till a decade back less than 10 per cent cancer patients were afflicted by lung cancer. By 2005, it had grown to 16.5 per cent and is estimated to be presently above 20 per cent. Projections by experts indicate that it could rise to 25 per cent by the year 2011 i.e. one out of every four Kolkatans may suffer lung cancer. 

If human health, specially of the poorer sections of society has to be kept under check, air pollution needs to be controlled. Modern fuel-efficient engines and clean fuel have to be used. This is necessary in countries like ours, where the poor or even the middle class don’t spend on preventive health.—INFA

                         (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)