A solution to Delhi's pollution problem: Here are the findings of #FirstpostAsksDelhi on the Odd-Even Formula

Editor’s note: A recent survey revealed that air pollution in Delhi is one-and-a-half times worse than in Beijing. The National Capital’s pollution troubles have prompted such proposals as the Odd-Even Formula and a plan to disallow new diesel vehicles from the streets of Delhi. Firstpost conducted a week-long campaign to get a finger on the pulse of Delhi and come up with solutions to the city’s woes. The first part of the campaign was a public poll asking how people felt about the Odd-Even Formula. It was followed by a call for suggestions on measures the Delhi government could adopt to reduce pollution. Finally, we asked Dinesh C Sharma — a 30-year veteran reporter who has covered climate change extensively — for a multi-pronged approach cities apart from just Delhi can adopt to reduce pollution. Rationing road space can help clean air and decongest Indian cities By Dinesh C Sharma The Delhi government’s announcement to experiment with restrictions on driving cars on city roads has, expectedly, led to an uproar in the general public as reflected in reactions on social, as well as mainstream media. Given the falling air quality in the national capital, the odd-even number scheme is being projected as the bitter pill which citizens will have to swallow. However, this step can boomerang if it is not accompanied by a series of complementary measures to ‘de-pollute’ as well as decongest the city. Scientific and government agencies continue to squabble over who is a bigger pollutant – cars or dust or industrial pollution. Industries have already been moved out of the city in the past two decades. Dust flying from construction sites and open spaces does contribute to pollutants in the air and needs to be addressed. While this issue is settled, there is no getting away from the fact that motorised vehicles (cars, two-wheelers, commercial vehicles) are a major source of pollution. And you have eight million of them in Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_2542082” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] There are several low-hanging fruit that can be plucked if the government wishes to have a lasting and sustainable solution to urban chaos. Steps to decongest city roads and improve quality need to be taken hand in hand because one feeds on another. Odd-even transport sorting, used under emergency situations in Paris, Beijing and other cities globally, is just one of them. It is a given that along with such drastic measures to ration road space, the government needs to improve public transport, enforce stricter emission norms and also tone up modes of transport such as three-wheelers and taxis. Along with all this, here are a few steps that need urgent attention if we are serious about decongesting Indian cities: Invest in developing pedestrian infrastructure: It is high time our politicians, planners and bureaucracy realise that pedestrians too need dedicated infrastructure just as cars need wide roads, signal-free highways, subways, flyovers and automated parking lots. At present, pedestrians have been marginalised from Indian roads and have to use road space at the mercy of motorised vehicles. If we want to discourage car use and encouraged use of public transport, the first requirement is world-class pedestrian infrastructure — walkable and safe footpaths, foot over bridges, safe access points to public transport facilities, skywalks and the like. Every user of public transport walks at least four times to complete a to-and-fro trip. Make a plan for last mile connectivity: The Metro experience in Delhi (Delhi Metro network has 160 stations and carries 2 million passengers every day) shows that a good number of public transport users depend on local modes of transport (like rickshaw, three-wheeler, feeder bus service and e-rickshaw) to complete the ‘last mile’ of their trip. Local agencies must work with Metro authorities to facilitate public transport users to access these modes of transport. At present, such means of transport are treated as a nuisance and are not part of any formal mobility plan. Local operating licenses for shared e-rickshaws can go a long way in solving this problem. Develop pedestrian zones in city centres and shopping areas: Traffic surveys have shown that a third of road trips in cities are made for shopping and recreation purposes. Due to lack of parking spaces and standard parking policies, shopping areas contribute to most congestion and lead to traffic buildup in peak hours. Neighbourhood markets, which used to sell grocery and milk in good old days, have been turned into posh shopping areas, congesting residential colonies. Many global cities have declared city centres and important shopping arcades care-free pedestrian zones. It helps not only keep city centres free of pollution and cars but also decongests arterial roads. London has a system of ‘congestion charging’ for cars going into the city centre, just like pollution tax imposed recently on trucks entering Delhi. Zero tolerance for on-street parking: The biggest bane of Indian roads is free on-street parking. Car drivers feel that they can park at any place where there is no “No parking” sign. This has to end because on-street parking during day (and also during night in residential colonies) has become a menace. The thumb rule should be ‘pay for parking your car’ anywhere in the city at any time. In the absence of such policy, every inch of open public space – including footpaths wherever available – is occupied by cars. Free parking on roads and public spaces has been institutionalized by five star hotels, places of worship, political parties, court complexes, government offices, marriage halls and so on. Hike parking charges: Every car need not one but three parking slots – at the residence of its owner, at his or her workplace and places of shopping, recreation etc. The general notion is that parking should be free wherever one goes. Car owners must realise that free parking space is not one’s birth right and it is not the government’s duty to provide a parking slot for every car sold in the country. Parking is a premium commodity or service and should be treated and sold like one. It is a joke that one can park one’s car for a pittance of Rs 500 a month in city centre where buying or renting even one square foot space may cost several lakhs of rupees. Why should the state subsidise a private mode of transport, when there is dearth of land for parking public transport buses in the city? The odd-even numbering plan should, therefore, be welcomed and introduced but as part of a larger scheme for urban mobility and not as the only panacea for air pollution.

Firstpost asked its readers about what they thought about Kejriwal’s plan:

#FirstpostAsks: Does the #DelhiOddEvenLogic make sense?

— Firstpost (@firstpost) December 5, 2015

This was followed up with a cross-platform call for ideas on how Delhi could solve its pollution problems. Here is what they thought: #FirstpostAsksDelhi Tweets On Facebook this is what our readers had to say: Baraha Mihir Mohanty: “Stringent rule on Vehicles above 5 years, Stringent rules on Night life, Motivating/Forcing people to use bicycles, especially in the winters.” Marcellus DSouza: “STOP the long convoy of cars used by our so called VVIP’s & VIP’s. Start a car pool for minister’s & a bus service for MP’s” Gaurab Banerji: “use electric car with wireless electricity receiving tesla coils. fit the road sides with wireless electricity giving tesla coils. cover the roads with solar panels to generate power for free into the tesla coils. during dark hours use backup power from electric company. fir the electric cars with meter for power” Kshitij Agarwal: “People will use public transport if there will be convenience ..who dsnt want to save money on petrol and effort to drive through the jams… If we look at the Delhi metro, we will realize that it was quickly adopted as a preferable mode of transportation but has got over crowded over time because of which people shifted to privately owned vehicles Hence if we can increase the capacity of Delhi metro, I foresee better utilization of public transportation.. Odd even formula can be applied to Delhi metro to start with…1 train will cover only odd stations, 1 will stop on even ones, or fast metro slow metro concept to manage crowd….or introducing special coaches for people who are ready to pay premium for convenience…….. May be introducing Mumbai local like model might help” Chaitu Runku: “kejriwal’s govt. decision of odd even day traffickng is good,but practically we have to see how it works.i suggest not only about the vehicles but also the industries around delhi to make changes to cut down in ther working hours so as reduce pollution.this can be done without making people confusion and there won’t be any disturbance among them and the released wastes can be used for laying roads and construction of houses for needy and also even can e used for generating electricity which is very necessary for us to be a digital india..this one step can show a drastic change and good result for curbin pollution..and tnq” Mihindu Pulukkody: “Trees of nature take the carbon dioxide in and give oxygen. Research must be done to achieve this by chemicals. If Indian scientists could discover a chemical extracted from green leaves, which, when injected into the silencer of a car, would solidify the carbon dioxide inside it without letting it out, that would be the ideal thing to do. And then in future cars of India this could be standard feature of the engine.” Kirthi Anand Karthikeyan: “Provide more scope to metro by expansion, provide taxiing trams across Delhi’s non arterial routes and finally use large scale pollution regulator in the major areas of the city. Thank you for providing me this opportunity” KP Ashokan Nambiar: “The city grown without any plan n basic infrastructure is lacking. In order to reduce pollution the utmost important is good road or metro,/.rail connectivity within Delhi n NCR areas. Planned prompt implementation of this will enable efficient n standardised public transport system so as to reduce pollution from private vehicles. Focussed attention be made for green energy vehicles even in Govt sector. Proper code book be published for construction activities. ThisE sector need stringent regulation of pollution norms. Stress should be given for plantation of trees n maintenance . Corporates n residential associations should be given incentives for their involvement for greenery drive. Stringent penality for pollution making units of any nature. Strict rule of law , without any subjectivity. need to be ensured to comply with the norms.” Akhil Jain: “Most of the air & water pollution in our city is coz of the non recyclable waste being burnt or such waste being thrown down the drain. I am a CA so lets start with figures coz i am not that good with words by taking the case of a firm selling wafers in India,LAYS. LAys sells a packet of wafers at Rs.10, I suggest that the govt should introduce a new (refundable)duty on it say Re.1 thereby asking LAYS to sell the product for Rs.11. However, if the consumer can exchange the empty packet for Re.1 (from government authorised Litter Collection Centres) it would not result in increased costs for the consumer. As soon as Lays manufactures the product, The government gets the duty coz its a direct tax like excise. The litter collection centres and the staff involved can run just from the Revenue generated from the Interest on money held by the govt at a given time (coz there will be a time lag between production of wafers and the consumer returning the packets). We are Indians, we do not litter money. ANd even if some1 does it, others would rush to pick that.That would ensure non recyclabe wastes not getting into our rivers also apart from employment generation. It would further make litter collection a white collar job and not (as it is now) associated with caste and lower classes”