Compliance matters: Not number of challans or penalty collected for air pollution violations
The real metric is the improvement in air quality, which Delhi has not managed to tackle despite years of interventions
What will happen once GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) restrictions are lifted?
As per the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM):
- The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi has shown significant improvement owing to high winds and favourable meteorological conditions.
- The air quality forecast provided by IMD/IITM indicates an increase in AQI of Delhi. This is due to slower winds in the coming days.
Older vehicles that went off the road due to conditions imposed by GRAP-4 can return to the roads in Delhi now. Delhi has tried various measures to control vehicular pollution over the years, but what is missing is a real metric to measure improvement in air quality. Odd-even may have yielded better results, as it not just reduced the number of vehicles (half of the so-called non-compliant vehicles as well). But it never worked as intended.
There are few concerns
▶ Why ban the entry of non-BS 4 vehicles only registered outside Delhi and allow Delhi-registered vehicles to run?
▶ What about metrics of improved air quality? The current performance metric being reported is the number of vehicles challenged for non-compliance.
▶ It’s not really surprising. A large number of so-called compliant vehicles are failing the Pollution Under Control (PUC) test. The real Culprit⁉️
▶ As I shared in an earlier post (https://tinyurl.com/mr49kxce), blaming 37% of non–compliant vehicles for Delhi NCR pollution will not help. Now, not only these 37% but all vehicles below BS4, including those registered outside Delhi, are not allowed to ply. So, what is the real improvement in air quality?
👉 The real metric for success should be how much air quality improved due to these measures. It should not be the number of challans issued or the amount collected.