Report by CSE ranks city ninth in total particulate emission load from urban commuting, even below Kolkata & Mumbai
A report titled The Urban Commute by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found that Ahmedabad was among one of the poorest performing metros as far as overall emissions and energy consumption in transport was concerned.
The report analysed and ranked 14 cities on the basis of emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and toxic pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, as well as energy guzzling from urban commuting, among others.
Of the 14 cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad were clubbed as megacities while the others were grouped as metropolitan cities. The report ranked Ahmedabad at 8th position in overall emissions and energy consumption, even below Kolkata. In fact, the only other small city to be ranked behind Ahmedabad was Pune.
Ahmedabad is ranked ninth in total particulate emission load from urban commuting among the 14 cities, which is even below megacities such as Kolkata and Mumbai. This means the particulate emission per kg in Ahmedabad is far higher than in Mumbai and Kolkata
It was also ranked sixth in the carbon dioxide load emission per trip (in kg). While sixth rank may seem good in the overall standings, A'bad was the second lowest ranked city in the category among metro cities. Pune was ranked the lowest in Co2 emission per trip among metro cities. In Ahmedabad, the biggest contributors to the C02 emission was two wheelers followed by cars.
"Ahmedabad is ranked lowest among the metropolitan cities but better than megacities. It has reported improvement in modal share for public transport over the last decade but overall growth in travel and motorization is driving the emissions and energy consumption up," the report said.
Mahesh Pandya, an environment right activist who has even filed a PIL in the high court regarding rising emission in the city said the city being ranked poorly among smaller cities is not a surprise. "We are a city with 65 lakh population. Against that, we have just 1,050 public transport buses and majority of it is diesel run. So, more people are using private vehicles to commute, adding to the emissions," said Pandya. He said the BRTS which was expected to give a fillip to public transport has cornered 50% of the roads wherever it runs. "This has narrowed the roads and the time that private vehicles spend on the road has increased," added Pandya.
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Mahesh Pandya, an environment right activist who has even filed a PIL in the high court regarding rising emission in the city said the city being ranked poorly among smaller cities is not a surprise.
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