Kerala: Why diesel autos need to vanish

KOCHI: The Kochi bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its first verdict banning 10-year old diesel vehicles in the state two months ago came as a shocker to the regulatory agencies and the people at large. The NGT verdict, a wake-up call for the people, came at a time when roads in the state was getting the reputation of having one of the highest vehicle intensity in the country.

Although two wheelers accounted for bulk of the vehicles, the sales of car and three wheelers also zoomed to a new high with the turn of the new millennium in the state. The over 8.5 million vehicle population in the state is higher than the number of households in the state estimated to be around 7.8 million. The increasing level of pollution is the natural corollary of the increase in the number of vehicle population.

Although wooden headed policy experts are known for making grandiose promises about six-lane and eight-lane highways taking care of the burgeoning growth of vehicles people with a little more wisdom are concerned about the deteriorating conditions of transportation system in the state. ‘Road rage’, a term mostly associated with the big cities is not unknown even some of the remote places in Kerala as a report from Nilambur in Malappuram district testified few weeks ago about a 19-yr old getting killed in the wake of a dispute over overtaking a vehicle.

The proposal by Transport Commissioner Tomin J. Thachankary to stop giving permission to diesel autorikshaws in Kochi and Kozhikode has to be seen in this background of the unbearable levels of pollution and the steady increase in number of vehicles. “The diesel autos have to be controlled and if possible eliminated from the roads mainly on three counts. Diesel autos are guilty of air and sound pollution besides having an unwieldy size”, Mr. Thachankary told DC on Sunday.

“We have decided to implement the policy of not giving registration for new autos beginning with Kochi and Kozhikode. The policy will be implemented in other places taking into account the success in these two cities”, he said. Mr. Thachankary also said that he plans to phase out the existing diesel autos in these two cities by helping them to convert them to CNG engines. The approximate cost for the conversion is in the range of Rs 30,000 per vehicle. “I have recommended for providing a financial assistance of Rs 15,000 per vehicle for converting to CNG”, Mr. Thachankary added.

The diesel autos proliferated in Kochi and other cities in Kerala during the past one decade following the escalation in the price of petrol. The price difference between petrol and diesel was more than Rs 50 per litre few years ago and people converted goods carriers into passenger vehicles. The Motor Vehicle Department took no measures to curb the practice and nowadays nobody knows who gave the permission for converting goods carriers into passenger vehicles.   

A section of auto workers unions opposed the proposal of the transport commissioner stating that it would bring additional financial burden to the workers. But most of the leaders are aware of the problems caused by pollution as auto workers themselves are one of the worst victims of the toxic fumes in the city roads.

Sojan Antony, a leader of the one of the auto workers union in Kochi, was candid about his concerns about pollution in the city. “I have heard of the proposal by the commissioner. The proposal is good, but I would like to know whether it is part of a government policy decision. To be successful it needs to be part of a policy initiative of the government”, he said.                

Mammed Koya, coordinator of the CITU-controlled Auto Drivers Association in Kozhikode said unless government provides financial support for a changeover to CNG the workers would find it difficult to comply with the proposal. “Steps need to be taken to control pollution but our condition should also be considered”, he said. Kozhikode city limits alone have around 800 auto rickshaws and all of them cannot be asked to change over to CNG engine on a fine day, he added.    

According to Kozhikode native M.G. Arjun the use of CNG by autos will go a long way to bring down the levels of pollution in our cities as well as rural habitats. He is also of the view that curbing the number of autos in a city would help to bring down traffic jams as unauthorized vehicles is definitely a factor for the stress in the roads.