Vehicular Pollution in India
Vehicular Pollution in India
LARRDIS
LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT
NEW DELHI
REFERENCE NOTE
For the use of Members of Parliament NOT FOR PUBLICATION
No. 14/RN/Ref./June/2018
reference
Prepared by Dr. Jayadev Sahu, Additional Director (23035025) and Shri Sai Ram C.V., Junior Library Assistant
of Lok Sabha Secretariat under the supervision of Smt. Kalpana Sharma, Joint Secretary and Smt. Anita Khanna,
Director.
The Reference Note is for personal use of the Members in the discharge of their Parliamentary duties, and is
not for publication. This Service is not to be quoted as the source of information as it is based on the sources
indicated at the end/in the context.
Vehicular Pollution in India
Introduction
Air pollution is one of the serious environmental concerns of the urban
cities where majority of the population is exposed to poor air quality. The rapid
urbanization in India has resulted in a tremendous increase in the number of
motor vehicles. As the number of vehicles continues to grow and the
consequent congestion increases, vehicles are now becoming the main source of
air pollution in urban India.
The country has taken a number of measures for the improvement of the
air quality in cities. These include, the improvement in the fuel quality,
formulation of necessary legislation and enforcement of vehicle emission
standards, improved traffic planning and management, etc.
Vehicular pollutants
1
Status of the Vehicular Pollution Control Programme in India, CPCB, p.2-3.
2
2
Ibid. p.10-11.
5
Fuel efficiency norms for passenger cars have been notified on 23 April,
2015.
3
Road Transport Year book (2015-16), MoRTH, p.8-9.
6
Conclusion
Air pollution imposes a cost on society as it increases both morbidity and
mortality. There is thus an urgent need to deal with the problem of vehicular
pollution. Advanced emission norms, Bharat IV and VI are being adopted to
deal with the problem. Awareness has to be created among people to undertake
measures to keep their vehicles well maintained to reduce emissions. However,
the greatest benefit come from the public transport as it will reduce the number
of vehicles on Indian city roads at the same time meeting the mobility needs of
the people. The pollution level can be minimized by the use of innovative and
technical methods as well as the alternative fuels. Measures should be taken to
run public transport vehicles on fuels which pollute less such as Compressed
Natural Gas, so that emissions from these vehicles can be minimized.
Sources Consulted
1. Status of the Vehicular Pollution Control Programme in India, CPCB, MoEFCC, New
Delhi, 2010.
2. Road Transport Year Book (2015-16), MoRTH, New Delhi, 2018.
3. Reply to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Questions.
4
Op.cit. Status of Vehicular, p.34.
5
Reply to Rajya Sabha Question No.1805 dated 12-03-2018.
Annexure - I
The total number of registered motor vehicles in India from 1951 to 2016