Journalism of Courage
Chandigarh was declared as the second worst among 14 cities in “per travel trip emissions” due to high usage of personal vehicles. Analysis of mode of transport used in the city and thus the release of toxic emissions of particulate matter, NOx and carbon dioxide was taken into account.
A report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that though the City Beautiful had ‘overall low emissions’ ranking third among other mega and metropolitan cities due to low volume of travel and low distances covered within the city, yet it was the second worst when it came to “per travel trip emissions” due to high usage of personal vehicles here.
The CSE gave rankings to 14 cities on the basis of two parameters — one on the overall emissions and the energy consumption in “urban commute”, and another on per travel trip emissions.
These cities comprise Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad (called mega cities in the study) and Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kochi, Bhopal, Vijayawada and Chandigarh (called metropolitan cities in the study).
The CSE analysis attributed a combined score to total toxic emissions of PM, NOx, CO2 and energy consumption from urban commuting practices. The parameters considered for understanding the difference across cities include level of motorisation, travel demand based on population, share of different modes of transport (public transport, walking, cycling, and personal vehicles), average length of daily travel trips, and quality of vehicle technologies and fuels.
While in overall emissions, Delhi ranked the worst in terms of overall toxic emissions, heat-trapping emission and energy consumption due to high volume of traffic, Chandigarh was on number three in low level of overall emission though “due to lower volume of travel, vehicles and lower distances covered as compared to mega cities like Delhi”.
However, the City Beautiful was at the near bottom in the per trip emissions followed by Hyderabad which is at the last spot. CSE stated that if corrective steps are not taken, “city may turn into an extremely polluted place”.
The report, which was released in Kolkata on August 24, stated, “Chandigarh ranks third on total emissions and guzzling due to low volumes of travel and lower distances covered, as well as comparatively lower vehicle stock. But it is at near bottom in the ranking for per trip emissions. This brings out very high usage and dependence on personal vehicles for all trips. Even the ownership of cars per 1,000 people is among the highest in the country here. Cities like this will have to be extremely careful about enabling massive scaling up of sustainable modes.”
CSE executive director (research and advocacy) Anumita Roychowdhury said that the particulate matter (PM) generated in Delhi per year was average 9.91 grams per vehicle trip while that in Chandigarh was 26.46 grams per vehicle trip.
She said, “In Chandigarh due to high modal share of cars, the carbon dioxide generated is 250 grams per vehicle trip here while it is 120 grams per vehicle trip in Delhi because higher share of public transport and use of CNG there, though overall travel volume in Delhi is much higher.”
For example, a trip of 10 km taken by a person adds 0.01 g of PM if the ride is on a bus, but 0.08 g (eight times) if it is in a car, 0.1 g (10 times) if it is on a two-wheeler and 0.46 g (46 times) if it is in an auto-rickshaw, she stated.
The report suggested that it was the low share of public transport in these trips undertaken by people and high usage of personal vehicles instead. The share of car usage was close to 80 per cent in Chandigarh.
“The next rung of metropolitan cities with comparatively lower population and vehicle stock has their own set of challenges. Lower share of public transport trips-non-motorised travel at risk of being eroded. The worrying trend is the very low share of public transport trips in the motorised trips like the worst reported share is a mere 4 per cent in Lucknow, followed by 16 per cent in Chandigarh, and 17 per cent in Pune. These are worse off than even the megacities as they do not have adequate formal public transport systems.”
Only Bhopal and Kochi have a better share: 44 per cent and 49 per cent respectively, it found.
“Essentially, every time a trip is made in Chandigarh, where per capita car ownership is the highest, it is likely to have a much worse impact on the environment than in the megacities of Kolkata and Mumbai, which have the best public transport systems and modal shares in the country. This is worrisome, as Chandigarh is already a Tricity with Chandigarh-Panchkula- Mohali forming a large urban agglomeration where the travel patterns are likely to be similar to Chandigarh. In such a scenario, the Tricity area may become an extremely polluted place in the years to come if corrective steps are not taken in time,” the report said.
