The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the national capital region and adjoining areas has fixed deadlines for transition of inter-city buses of the five states or UTs operated by state govt. CAQM said buses operated by state PSUs and private entities will also have to switch to cleaner fuels. The move is aimed at reducing vehicular pollution, among the major sources of air pollution.
According to source apportionment study carried out by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in 2018, the contribution of transport to PM2.5 in Delhi’s air is 39% and NCR’s air is 13%. Transport contributes 19% to Delhi’s PM10 and 7% to NCR’s PM10.
Due to concerns of highly polluting inter-city buses to Delhi from other states, Delhi govt in Jan last year requested all the states/ UTs to work towards migration towards a cleaner service.
“It emerged during a meeting with these five states or UTs that transition to only CNG/ EV buses by these states will take a much longer time. It became necessary to prioritise replacing older BS-lll/ IV inter-city diesel buses running from these states to Delhi-NCR with BS-VI diesel compliant buses and action was initiated in this direction towards appropriate replacement of such buses,” CAQM said.
In a meeting on April 5, the commission fixed the deadline for transition to cleaner fuels. Out of 541 requirements of inter-city buses from Uttarakhand to Delhi-NCR, 160 EV/ CNG/ BS-VI diesel buses are running now and 379 buses have to make the transition. 190 buses have been targeted for transition by Dec 31, 2024, and the remaining by March 31, 2025.
The deadline for inter-city buses from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to switch to cleaner fuels is Dec 31, 2024. The deadline for buses from Jammu and Kashmir for complete transition is Sept 30, 2024.
“Apart from the bus services operated by state govt, inter-city bus services being operated by the state PSUs and private entities have to switch to electric or CNG or BS VI-complaint. Bus services operating under the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) licence regime are, however, not to be covered in the ambit of these guidelines,” CAQM said in an order dated June 14.
It added that transport and traffic departments of Delhi govt, NCR states and these five states and Union Territories, will ensure strict compliance through regular monitoring of the field level implementation, including for bus services being operated by the state PSUs and other private entities.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said: “This is a very important intervention. This strategy, if scaled up, can be a win-win from the perspective of scaling up public transport connectivity in the region and reducing emissions from mass commuting. Upscaled inter-city bus services based on clean fuel and technology and preferably on battery technology to eliminate tailpipe emissions from the heavy-duty bus fleet, can contribute substantially towards controlling transport related emissions in the region and also in the pollution hotspots around interstate bus terminals like Anand Vihar.”
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