IIT Kanpur Study says Road Dust Responsible for Delhi Air Pollution.
New Delhi: Delhi High Court has directed the Kejriwal government to present the pollution statistics of the ‘Odd-Even Formula’ in Delhi for the last week on January 8, 2016. The pilot test of the formula is to continue till January 15 and the policy to control vehicular emissions and curb air pollution is to be reviewed after that – based on the recorded data.
The Odd-Even Formula states that those with odd number plates on their cars will be able to drive their vehicle on odd dates – 1,3,5,7,9,11,13, and 15 while those with even number plates will be able to drive around on even dates – 2,4,6,8,10,12, and 14. So far, the policy is said to be successful.
Meanwhile, IIT Kanpur has presented its study on Air Pollution in Delhi and found that Road Dust is the biggest contributor to dangerous Particulate Matter levels in the city’s air.
The study states that Road Dust constitutes 56% of PM 10 pollution and 38% of PM 2.5 pollution in Delhi which was recently found to be the ‘City with the Most Polluted Air in the World’. Vehicular Pollution was found to be in the range of 9-20% of the PM pollution levels. Other major factors that are bringing the quality level of Delhi’s air down are:
- Biomass Burning (17-26% of PM Pollution),
- Burning Municipal Solid Waste (6-7%), and
- Secondary particulate matter from Industrial Stacks (25-30%).
IIT Kanpur’s study points out that while Odd-Even Formula is a good move by the state government to clean the air, Arvind Kejriwal also needs to take initiatives to control the road dust to achieve his target.