Delhi proposal for pollution control –absurd or brilliant?

To begin with, the sources of pollution in the capital aren’t clear: factories, crop burning in neighbouring states, power plants, cooking on coal or wood stoves, old autos and aged commercial vehicles are also significant polluters. Incidentally, none of those in the last category will be covered in the odd-even plan proposed by Delhi government. Without a clear calculation of how much private vehicles contribute to Delhi’s pollution, making half of them sit idle at all times seems like a draconian and ill-conceived idea.

Next, we just don’t have the traffic police manpower to track adherence. Theoretically, scheme supporters may believe that people will be good. However, if we were good people, all of India’s schemes would have worked. There will be legal ways around the scheme (buy another car for the number plate, often an old, second hand, more polluting one) or illegal ways (fake an emergency certificate, bribe the cop, take a chance, switch the number plate). After the initial euphoria and media frenzy around the scheme dies, Delhiites will figure out a way to get their cars on the road.

For those who adhere to the rules, they will end burdening the already choked public transport system even more. Autos will either not be available, or will overcharge. Metros, already packed, will become worse. Delhi doesn’t have public transport like Paris and Singapore (where such measures were applied, albeit only on a temporary basis). Alongside this, there will be tremendous negative side-effects for certain sections of our society. Many drivers will be without jobs, goods won’t move efficiently causing inflation and school kids who travel in private vehicles will suffer.

The worst part is this quick fix solution will give us a false sense of achievement while the real solutions will be ignored. In many places where such measures were tried, such as Mexico and Bogota, they have failed. In Beijing, an often touted example, the measure worked somewhat but it was temporary, for a specific event. Also, Beijing is not a democracy, and the plan fits into what an authoritarian state would do. In democratic India, we must think a hundred times before we steal our people’s freedom. Incidentally, Beijing also rolled tanks on people who tried the kind of movements from which AAP was born. Hence, compare cities with caution.

Solutions do exist. The long-term solution is to create more world-class cities like Delhi, so we reduce the pressure from the super metros. The super metros also need a much better public transport system. Provide metros & public transport that people would prefer of their own, as in places like Finland & UK, where there are excellent public transportation. In India, if a middle class or well to do person says that he took public transport to office, he is often looked down or considered to have class. This is largely due to the facilities & comfort provided in these public transportation.

Statistics say that vehicles are not the only polluters and in fact, contribute to less than 1/3^rd of the pollutants. That being the case, reducing vehicles alone will not help and there can be adverse effect, through loss of productivity, increase in intolerance (favourite buzzword around currently) etc.

In the short term, we can incentivize offices with lower taxes to have different work hours, which will balance out the traffic and make it move faster. A car stuck in a traffic jam pollutes much more than a car that quickly finishes its journey. We can also raise taxes on purchase of new cars (or limit their numbers). We also need Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) tags on all cars in the city, so we can introduce peak hour congestion charges and other such road optimization measures. Many cities across countries (London, Singapore, Stockholm, Milan etc.) have introduced congestion pricing or charges & have seen improvement in congestion during peak hours in urban areas. Taxi sharing apps must be encouraged for they can go a long way in reducing cars on the roads.

The issue is not limited only to Delhi, every metro city in India is struggling with pollution. Just that, Delhi’s situation is out of control, for the pollution is at its excess during winter. While other cities/government has done lip service to curb pollution, Delhi government is willing to bite the bullet and implement anti-pollution measures, although had to water down the proposal to exclude only ladies driven car, rule only between 8 AM to 8 PM, exempting two wheelers, Sundays exempted, initially only between Jan1 to Jan15 etc.

Make no mistake, AAP deserves credit for trying to do something about Delhi’s pollution. Delhi deserves better air but it also deserves more sensible solutions to achieve the same.