The Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on performance audit on Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi was placed in the Legislative Assembly of Delhi today.
The air quality in Delhi remained 'Poor' to 'Severe' for 1,195 out of 2,137 days (56 per cent) from May 2015 to March 2021.
Major findings of the Performance Audit:
Air Quality Monitoring System -The location of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) did not meet the requirements laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board, indicating possible inaccuracies in the data generated by them, which renders the Air Quality Index values unreliable.
Requisite data regarding the concentration of pollutants in the air for a minimum of 16 hours in a day were not available with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) for proper air quality monitoring. DPCC was also not measuring levels of Lead (Pb) in Delhi's ambient air.
Also read: CAG report on vehicle pollution to be tabled in Delhi
GNCTD did not have real-time information regarding sources of pollutants as it did not conduct any study on this subject.
In the absence of any information regarding the type and number of vehicles plying Delhi roads and assessment of their emission load, GNCTD was not in a position to identify emissions from different types of vehicles that are generating significant concentrations of pollutants for framing source-wise strategies.
GNCTD neither monitored Benzene levels at the fuel stations (major source), nor followed-up on the installation of Vapour Recovery System at fuel stations to reduce Benzene emission .
Public Transport System- The adoption of public transport reduces vehicular emission per passenger-kilometre travelled. The audit observed that there was a shortage of public transport buses, with only 6,750 buses available against a re-assessed requirement of 9,000 buses.
Though there was an estimated increase of 17 per cent in the population of Delhi since 2011, the number of registered Gramin-Sewa vehicles, which provide last-mile connectivity, remained the same at 6,153 since May 2011.
In spite of the shortage of public transport buses, GNCTD did not take any action to implement its alternatives even after keeping budget provision for the last seven years.
Cleaner Transport- Prevention and Enforcement Strategies-Public transport buses were not being subjected to emission tests twice a month as required under the directions of the National Green Tribunal.
There were irregularities in issuing Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCCs) to vehicles.
Further, the government also did not have a mechanism to ensure the regular calibration of the pollution checking instruments
The capacity of the impounding pits for keeping the impounded vehicles was also only 4,000, compared to more than 41 lakh vehicles due for impounding and scrapping
In spite of providing financial and other incentives to encourage the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EV), the number of EVs registered in Delhi increased insignificantly. Further, the availability of charging facilities was also limited and not evenly distributed.
There was a lack of concerted efforts by the Government to promote and facilitate non-motorised transport in Delhi.
The government also failed to take steps to reduce air pollution by developing ISBTs at entry points of Delhi to keep inter-state diesel propelled buses at the periphery of Delhi, which would have prevented Delhi from becoming a trans-shipment zone for other states.
The government did not take any action to implement the Delhi Management and Parking Places Rules, 2019, which aimed to avoid vehicle stagnation and traffic congestion due to haphazard parking.
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