Delhi, NCR asked to audit ageing auto-rickshaws
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courtappointed Environment Protection (prevention and control) Authority (EPCA) on Thursday asked the Delhi government and other NCR cities to conduct an audit of auto-rickshaws that have completed their age and are still plying. It also directed the government to take action on auto-rickshaws plying without a functional global positioning system (GPS).
Delhi has around 95,000 autos registered with it running on CNG while around 84,000 autos, many of them diesel, ply in the National Capital Region (NCR) cities, representatives of state transport departments told the EPCA.
“The transport departments of Delhi and NCR have been asked to provide data of the number of auto-rickshaws that have completed their age or are about to. This is crucial to check emissions as well as to help in phasing out of diesel-run autos,” said EPCA member Sunita Narain.
The NCR cities include Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad. Ghaziabad, one of the top pollution hots pots, has 14,850 registered autos, of which a substantial number runs on diesel, the members noted.
While diesel-run vehicles older than 10 years are banned in Delhi-ncr, for commercial vehicles run on other fuels the age of expiry is 15 years.
There is a cap on the number of auto-rickshaws to be registered in Delhi and some NCR towns, including Noida and Ghaziabad. Delhi is allowed to have 1 lakh autos on roads.
This is the first time that an audit of ageing auto-rickshaws will be conducted in the city.
According to experts, a diesel three-wheeler emits higher particulate matter compared to its petrol and CNG counterparts.
“These three-wheeled vehicles are powered by small, single-cylinder diesel engines. These small engines with unstable emissions and high-exhaust temperatures limit the scope of application of advanced systems that are otherwise used in other diesel vehicles thus causing much higher and toxic emissions,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
Besides, one of the major permit conditions, installing GPS in these vehicles, is being flouted by over 50% autos plying in Delhi. Of the 95,000 autos registered, only 41,766 have functional GPS, Delhi transport department officials told the EPCA.
“Having functional GPS is important for tracking the movement as well as traffic operations and management. The department must take action to resolve the issue of non-functional SIMS,” Narain said.
The EPCA asked Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) representatives to expedite the process of testing the feasibility of hydrogen enriched CNG (HCNG) buses, trials of which were to begin from August 2019.
HCNG is a mixture of 18 -20% of hydrogen into CNG that can bring down carbon emissions substantially. Delhi will be the first city to roll out HCNG buses by next year.