‘NCR cities won’t be able to cope’

GURUGRAM/NOIDA/GHAZIABAD:THE Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority’s decision to ban all non-cng vehicles is likely to turn into a scary proposition for NCR cities of Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad too.

Experts said that NCR cities lacked robust public transport systems that could absorb the fallout from such a ban, making it highly impractical.

Moreover, such a move will require the district administration to make a comprehensive plan to ease the pressure on a city’s mobility networks.

“Mass public transport in Gurugram is almost absent, and a large chunk of the population relies on private vehicles,” transport expert Sewa Ram, who is currently undertaking a comprehensive mobility survey of the city, said. “While hard measures to curb pollution are certainly required, the district administration will have to chalk up a holistic plan in order to make it work,” he said. This would include taking steps like closing schools, engaging private CNG buses from schools and corporates to ferry commuters, and staggering economic activities.

Pankaj Murti, a resident of Gurgaon’s Sushant Lok, said that any ban on private vehicles would disrupt his commute. “There are no autos available easily around my house, and a ban on cars would mean chaos,” he said.

In Noida, the ban if implemented, will effectively leave just about 8% of the city’s total vehicles on the streets. Of the total 6,74,800 vehicles in the district, just 56,027 vehicles are Cngbased. These include private and commercial four wheelers, buses and autorickshaws. There are 5,11,192 petrol vehicles and 1,07,581 diesel vehicles in Gautam Budh Nagar Transport officials said while most autorickshaws are CNG based, less than 20% of private vehicles as well as buses run on CNG in Noida. Allowing only CNG vehicles, therefore, will hit all kinds of travel and commute options.

Ghaziabad has nearly 8.5 lakh vehicles of which 6.93 run on petrol while 91,812 run on diesel. The city has only 63,701 CNG vehicles. Ghaziabad relies on 12,000 shared autos and nearly 125 private buses, which run on CNG, for local transport. “Such impractical, knee-jerk reactions are not the solution to pollution problems that happens for threemonths every year. In Noida, there is no Cng-based public transport like Delhi. How will residents of NCR commute?” Amit Gupta, resident of Sector 77, Noida, said.

“Metro connectivity in Ghaziabad is limited to 2.57km. I will have to leave behind my car and take the Metro train, which will be crowded. Office- goers from the city areas will face major issue in reaching metro stations,” said Mohit Sharma, a resident of Vaishali who drives to Delhi’s Connaught Place daily for work.