Delhi's diesel use falls 26%, petrol usage up 2%

Diesel consumption in Delhi has declined by a startling 26 percent in 2010-11 compared to 2009-10 while the city guzzled 2.24 percent more petrol in the same period.

As per latest Delhi Government figures, the consumption of diesel in the city was 8.11 lakh metric tonnes in 2010-2011 as against 10.98 lakh metric tonnes the year before. The drop of around three lakh metric tonnes of diesel in 2010-11 came when nearly five lakh new cars were added to the city roads in the same period.

[caption id=“attachment_159360” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The consumption of CNG and petrol, however, swelled by 19.2 percent and 2.24 per cent in 2010-11 as compared to their consumption in 2009-11. Reuters”]  [/caption]

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According to government statistics, the number of vehicles in the city has gone up to 69.32 lakh in 2010-11 from 64.51 lakh in 2009-10. Officials attributed decline in diesel consumption despite significant increase in number of vehicles to expansion of metro network and modernisation of bus transport.

The city had only 5.62 lakh vehicles in 1981. The total number of vehicles in Delhi is more than combined total of vehicles in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. On an average over 1,000 vehicles are added to the city roads everyday.

The consumption of CNG and petrol, however, swelled by 19.2 percent and 2.24 per cent in 2010-11 as compared to their consumption in 2009-11.

In 2010-11, the city consumed a total of 8.25 lakh metric tonnes of petrol as against 8.07 lakh metric tonnes in the previous year.

The consumption of petrol, which was 6.12 lakh metric tonnes in 2003-04 has been on the rise while consumption of diesel has been on the decline since 2007-08.

The city consumed 13.94 lakh metric tonnes of diesel in 2007-08 and the consumption declined to 12.21 lakh metric tonnes the next year while in 2009-10 it came down to 10.93 lakh metric tonnes.

The consumption of diesel in 2003-04 was 11.28 lakh metric tonnes and it was on the rise till 2007-08. As per the statistics, Delhi consumed a total of 5.96 lakh metric tonnes of CNG in 2010-11 against 5 lakh metric tonnes in 2009-10.

“The trend of vehicle owners parking their vehicles outside metro stations and travel by metro is increasing,” said an official.

He said people having private vehicles are increasingly using public transport system as it has been improved to a great extent in the run up to the Commonwealth Games. Delhi Metro, which started operations in 2002 on a 8-km stretch, now has 190 km network across the National Capital Region and is the fastest growing Metro network anywhere in the world.

The Delhi government procured a fleet of 4,000 low floor buses for Delhi Transport Corporation in the run up to the Commonwealth Games as part of efforts to streamline the bus transport system in the city.

PTI