A city that runs seamlessly, with smooth traffic, great connectivity, gridlock-free roads, and residents who breathe in fresh air in a pedestrian-friendly environment... An Urban Utopia? As we mark World Environment Day on June 5, it's shocking how far away from that ideal we are in Bengaluru. Once a byword for ‘green’, today, the city is bursting at the seams with a population that touches one crore, moving about – or blocking each other’s path – on some 60 lakh vehicles, each one of them belching pollutants, some more, some less. Can a ban on old vehicles, as ordered by the NGT in Kerala, save our city? Or, a ban on high-end diesel cars, such as in Delhi? Or, should we all be the change, give up our cars and take to the admittedly inadequate public transport?
On May 23, the National Green Tribunal passed a landmark judgement to ban light and heavy diesel vehicles that were more than 10 years old in six major cities of Kerala. On May 31, all the states were given a three week deadline to submit a report to the NGT on the pollution levels in the worst affected cities in their respective states.
What will Bengaluru, the self-described IT capital of the country say? Teeming with transport vehicles including private buses and taxis, can it cope with a blanket ban on ageing, diesel vehicles that are the proven source of pollution and yet, remains the city's lifeline, starved as it is of proper urban transportaion and connectivity?
Bengaluru's footfall is one crore, with a floating population of nearly 10 lakh people. Its vehicular footprint is even more startling - 55,59,730 vehicles registered as of March 2015, the vast majority of them – close to 45 lakh vehicles -- being motorbikes, scooters and cars used for individual mobility.
Some 10,24,529 vehicles are registered as commercial transport vehicles -- 92,414 trucks and lorries, 1,02,797 light goods vehicles, 37,689 buses run by the BMTC, private operators, factories and IT companies and educational institutions, 80,204 taxis and 5,33,736 other transport vehicles. It is this segment that has the highest population of polluting diesel vehicles.
Clean air?
Virtually non-existent. According to a study conducted by New Delhi based research and advocacy agency Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Bengaluru residents actually breathe in air which has 3-12 times higher pollution levels than acceptable. Air quality monitoring by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in Bengaluru last December revealed that the city has seen a 57 percent increase in Particulate Matter - PM10 - levels between 2010 and 2014. It is the highest increase for any city in the south India.
According to the national assessment on air pollution put out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests based on a six-city source apportionment study in 2010, vehicles contribute 42 percent of particulates and 67 per cent of nitrogen oxides to Bengaluru’s air, a major share of it coming from older vehicles.
Old is polluting
The Transport department estimates that as many as 5,54,390 vehicles in Bengaluru alone are older than 15 years, and there are 21,40,350 (as of March 2015) such vehicles across the state – vehicles that belch smoke at far higher levels than acceptable and which bear a red band, painted on to them for easy identification as polluters. They must be subjected to strict emission checks during inspections. The big question is, are they?
Such orders are very much required in Bengaluru because older vehicles are causing up to 30 percent of the unburnt hydrocarbons emitted due to poor combustion. These vehicles are not maintained properly and the inefficiency of the transport department in monitoring such vehicles is visible. Also, many old vehicle users buy adulterated diesel which causes more pollution. The government has to eliminate such vehicles and strict vigilance to stop people buying adulterated diesel has to be in place
— Dr A.N. Yellappa Reddy, Former Environment Secretary
Former Environment Secretary Dr A.N. Yellappa Reddy says such vehicles should be banned outright, instead, supporting the NGT’s stand. “Such orders are very much required in Bengaluru because older vehicles are causing upto 30 percent of the unburnt hydrocarbons emitted due to poor combustion. These vehicles are not maintained properly and the inefficiency of the transport department in monitoring such old polluting vehicles is clearly visible. Worse, many of those who run these old vehicles buy adulterated diesel, which causes even more pollution. The government has to eliminate such vehicles, and there has to be strict vigilance against adulterated diesel”.
While the NGT may be considering a ban on old diesel vehicles, mostly in the commercial sector, Bengaluru’s more aware citizens are introspecting about their own practices, too. Perhaps, says Vinay, a techie, the transport department should first ban cars that carry a single person because the high number of such vehicles is partly to blame for increasing traffic congestion in the city. If you take out these cars, and traffic flow becomes smoother, it will help reduce vehicular pollution, he says.
Senior citizen Radhakrishna, however, says that the government should first provide better public transport before considering banning any class of vehicles that ferry people. If old vehicles, such as public transport buses, are banned, it will cause problems for millions of people commuting to work and school.
Clearly, Bengaluru is faced with difficult choices if it is not to end up on the ‘world’s most polluted’ cities list. The key question is, will the powerful transport lobby allow a ban on old diesel vehicles? Or, will the automobile industry, a significant contributor to the economy, allow a ban on private cars? Can governments afford to rub either lobby the wrong way?
Go wild for life
The United Nations has declared the theme for World Environment Day (June 5) 2016 as "Go Wild for Life, Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife Trade." The increasing illegal trade in wildlife products across the country has led to an eroding of the Earth’s precious biodiversity, driving several species to the brink of extinction.
The message on the WED official website read, "The killing and smuggling of wildlife is undermining economies and ecoystems, fuelling organized crime, and feeding corruption and insecurity across the globe. Wildlife crime endangers iconic elephants, rhinos, tigers, gorillas and sea turtles. In 2011, a subspecies of Javan rhino went extinct in Vietnam, while the last western black rhinos vanished from Cameroon the same year. Great apes have disappeared from Gambia, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo, and other countries could quickly follow.
Lesser-known victims include helmeted hornbills and pangolins as well as wild orchids and timbers like Rosewood – flowers and timber are also considered wildlife!" This year, the UN has focused on The Giant Sable, a large, rare sub-species of the sable antelope found in Angola’s forested highlands and nowhere else – not even in any zoo in the world.
The last remaining wetlands under threat!
Intense urbanisation and urban sprawl in ‘garden city’ Bengaluru has led to a dramatic decline in the number of waterbodies across the city. The latest survey by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) shows that out of 105 lakes, nearly 100 lakes have been encroached by illegal buildings.
The study also highlights many other threats faced by lakes and drainage areas of Bengaluru, including encroachment of Rajakaluves and loss of inter-connectivity, lake reclamation for infrastructure activities, topography alterations in lake catchment areas, unauthorised dumping of municipal solid waste and building debris, sustained inflow of untreated or partially treated sewage and industrial effluents, removal of shoreline riparian vegetation and pollution due to enhanced vehicular traffic.
The Koliwad Committee report has sounded the alarm on the rapid encroachment of lakes in the city. Among many lakes, encroachment has robbed the 84.2-acre Puttenahalli Lake of some 31 acres already. Similarly, Channasandra Lake has lost 17.27 acres of its 42.3-acre spread; 34.10 acres, or over two-thirds of the 55.10-acre Kowdenahalli Lake has been encroached; A. Narayanapura Lake is now half its size, its 15 acres having been reduced to 7.5 acres; Halagevaderahalli Lake has lost six acres of its 17.1 acres, Kempambudhi Lake 3.34 acres of its 47.01 acres and more than 10 acres of the 18-acre Yediyur Lake has been encroached.
The fish are all dying
After the Ulsoor Lake fish kill, hundreds of fish were found dead in Hebbal Lake recently. This is the second such incident in the last one month. Experts say the overflow of the storm water drain into the lake and the discharge of sewage into it have caused the death of hundreds of fish in the lakes. A similar incident was reported last year in Kaikondrahalli Lake. The reason for the death of hundreds of fish in all these lakes is due to water contamination and the depletion in oxygen levels due to the inflow of untreated sewage.
