[apachelongbow]

friends please check this out. http://aqicn.org/map/india/ Its India's own air quality monitoring, real time for all major towns and cities. I was horrified to see Delhi reporting something like 420+ units today morning at around 8am or so. Even now in the evening it is above 180 or so, compared with 65 units in Hyderabad. Chennai currently is reporting a ridiculous 800 odd units!!! We don't need Nazi gas chambers, we have our own cities to kill people. Looking at this graphical picture, I somewhere agree with the NGT and the court, they are forced to perform some knee jerk maneuvers to safeguard our health considering that our successive governments are sitting doing nothing.

[Kandisa]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

friends please check this out. http://aqicn.org/map/india/ .....Looking at this graphical picture, I somewhere agree with the NGT and the court, they are forced to perform some knee jerk maneuvers to safeguard our health considering that our successive governments are sitting doing nothing.

Thanks for providing the link. Indeed the situation need some ground level concrete action, but not an overnight, logic defying proposition which doesn't have linkage to the root cause at the first place. Its simply not possible to compensate for decades of negligence through a whimsical decision. More importantly for a country like India, a holistic view (mainly the manpower, investment & future growth related to the affected industry segment) has to be taken in perspective.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

friends please check this out. http://aqicn.org/map/india/ Its India's own air quality monitoring, real time for all major towns and cities. I was horrified to see Delhi reporting something like 420+ units today morning at around 8am or so. Even now in the evening it is above 180 or so, compared with 65 units in Hyderabad. Chennai currently is reporting a ridiculous 800 odd units!!! We don't need Nazi gas chambers, we have our own cities to kill people. Looking at this graphical picture, I somewhere agree with the NGT and the court, they are forced to perform some knee jerk maneuvers to safeguard our health considering that our successive governments are sitting doing nothing.

Where I agree with the findings, there are other factors responsible for this:
1. The dump at Burari-Karnal Bypass (Bhalsava... maybe that's what the area called) is on fire, which is a major pollutant.
2. Delayed rains, the dust particles rise up in air.
3. Lack of greenery in upcoming residential projects surrounding Delhi, there are on all sides, Ghaziabad, Noida (Greater Noida, Noida Extension, included), Faridabad, Sohna, Gurgaon, Bhiwadi, Bahadurgarh, Sonepat, & satellite towns of NCR. Also includes Metro & intra cities transportation facilities work under progress.
4. Uncontrolled vote bank settlements where the living conditions are almost like hell.

NGT needs to suggest better measures than making life of law abiding citizens difficult, I bet they won't... 'cause bureaucrats thrive on stupidity than rationalism & effectively pass on blame to engineers.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by Kandisa

Thanks for providing the link. Indeed the situation need some ground level concrete action, but not an overnight, logic defying proposition which doesn't have linkage to the root cause at the first place. Its simply not possible to compensate for decades of negligence through a whimsical decision. More importantly for a country like India, a holistic view (mainly the manpower, investment & future growth related to the affected industry segment) has to be taken in perspective.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Where I agree with the findings, there are other factors responsible for this:
1. The dump at Burari-Karnal Bypass (Bhalsava... maybe that's what the area called) is on fire, which is a major pollutant.
2. Delayed rains, the dust particles rise up in air.
3. Lack of greenery in upcoming residential projects surrounding Delhi, there are on all sides, Ghaziabad, Noida (Greater Noida, Noida Extension, included), Faridabad, Sohna, Gurgaon, Bhiwadi, Bahadurgarh, Sonepat, & satellite towns of NCR. Also includes Metro & intra cities transportation facilities work under progress.
4. Uncontrolled vote bank settlements where the living conditions are almost like hell.

NGT needs to suggest better measures than making life of law abiding citizens difficult, I bet they won't... 'cause bureaucrats thrive on stupidity than rationalism & effectively pass on blame to engineers.

I agree with your views regarding a holistic cleanup. However what shocked me on the real time data is that, on peak traffic hours (morning 8-10 and evening 6-9) the pollution data in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi shoots up dramatically, example Chennai its changed from 120 something to almost 800 something, likewise Delhi from 180 something to 400 something. This is shocking and indeed shows that increased vehicular movement is causing increased air pollution. Maybe there is some sanity in the even odd logic and the proposal to ban cars within city limits, albeit with a green air-conditioned public transport.
If someone can plot the data for say a week or 10 days on a graph, there will be a clear spike in pollution levels during peak hours (by spike I mean it literally doubles or triples) and on weekdays. If this is not enough warning for us to see that cars are not the solution for daily commute.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I agree with your views regarding a holistic cleanup. However what shocked me on the real time data is that, on peak traffic hours (morning 8-10 and evening 6-9) the pollution data in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi shoots up dramatically, example Chennai its changed from 120 something to almost 800 something, likewise Delhi from 180 something to 400 something. This is shocking and indeed shows that increased vehicular movement is causing increased air pollution. Maybe there is some sanity in the even odd logic and the proposal to ban cars within city limits, albeit with a green air-conditioned public transport.
If someone can plot the data for say a week or 10 days on a graph, there will be a clear spike in pollution levels during peak hours (by spike I mean it literally doubles or triples) and on weekdays. If this is not enough warning for us to see that cars are not the solution for daily commute.

I agree that a solution is required, but quickfix or half baked ideas won't do. Obviously the NGT is not there for these idiocracies.

I blame the politicians lesser to blame for our suffering than the courts & NGT.

PS : Replacing the Eucalyptus trees with dense Indian plants/ trees could do a lot favour on pollution & water table.

[Kandisa]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

....Maybe there is some sanity in the even odd logic and the proposal to ban cars within city limits, albeit with a green air-conditioned public transport.
.......If this is not enough warning for us to see that cars are not the solution for daily commute.

It all boils down to the fact that if there is an eco-friendly convenient mode of public transport, majority of the people will use the same rather than private cars for local commute. And this is precisely the area where govt initiatives play the most vital role. Odd-even logic does 've some sanity but if you look at the increased loads during those times on the already overcrowded public commute like Metro, you can't and won't continue to avail the same if your financial conditions enable you to move comfortably in your own car.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

PS : Replacing the Eucalyptus trees with dense Indian plants/ trees could do a lot favour on pollution & water table.

Absolutely.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@VeluM; Will they give an economic 'incentive' for Ultra green cars like Mercedes Blue.

The government does give incentives even to mild hybrids, so companies like Mercedes that have such hybrid technology can gain an advantage.

Incorporating lower-displacement engines, ECO start/stop functions and improved aerodynamics, BlueEFFICIENCY models are energy efficient and fully optimised for lowering emissions. Coupled with less rolling resistance and weight saving measures such as reduced windscreen thickness, and lighter alloy wheels – BlueEFFICIENCY technology cuts running costs without compromising on performance.

Source

Originally Posted by sgiitk

The biggest joke and irony, Buses which run on Diesel (compression ratio about 18-22, and no ignition) having their engines retrofitted for CNG. The only reason they got away was that the buses were on essentially truck chassis and engines, ie. grossly overpowered. Why did anyone not come up with Bus chassis with far smaller engines in the fifty odd years?

Is your point that CNG vehicles need sparkplugs to ignite and diesels do not have them? I think they would have studied the feasibility of such a conversion, and not just converted them to CNG on a "let's see what happens" basis.

If they actually did the latter and it worked, good for them

[Torquedo]

Fellow BHPians -

I had a question for new diesel car buyers in the last 2-3 months.

Can someone please confirm the Registration Validity of a new diesel car that has been bought in the NCR, in other words on the RC smart card, what is duration that is being provided by the RTO, is it 10 or 15 years ?

I would be thankful if someone can share the city name with the duration of validity.

Thanks for all the help here !

Happy Motoring.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I agree with your views regarding a holistic cleanup. However what shocked me on the real time data is that, on peak traffic hours (morning 8-10 and evening 6-9) the pollution data in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi shoots up dramatically, example Chennai its changed from 120 something to almost 800 something, likewise Delhi from 180 something to 400 something........

First of all, thanks for the link.
But I want to share my 2 cents here. I grew up in Chennai, the reading of about 800 that you see in Chennai is taken at a locality called Manali (no, not the Himachal one). This place has a petroleum refinery - Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) formerly known as Madras Refineries Limited (MRL). I think this has to do with the extermely high pollution levels there.
If you zoom closer in the map, there is another reading taken near US Consulate (more like heart of the city) where the reading is typically about 100-120 - which is a better realistic estimate of the pollution in the city.

[BUXX]

@Torquedo: ^^ Not a new owner, but I asked around from dealers- it is 100 years for new vehicles.
However, 2-3 yr old Diesels (pre-Ban) are still registered for 15 years , even after change of ownership.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by BUXX

@Torquedo: ^^ Not a new owner, but I asked around from dealers- it is 100 years for new vehicles.
However, 2-3 yr old Diesels (pre-Ban) are still registered for 15 years , even after change of ownership.

I hope that 100 years is a typo, and it is 10 years

[BUXX]

Yes , how I wish it was 100 though !

[volkman10]

Diesel car sales could be on track soon!

The end to the diesel dilemma in India, particularly the Delhi-NCR region, seems to be in sight. Indian government bats for diesel cars, mulls scrappage scheme, argues against green cess.

the government has told the Supreme Court that a new policy to combat pollution including the scrapping of old diesel vehicles and a scheme to replace about 28 million automobiles registered before March 31, 2005, by BS IV-compliant ones by April 2017, is on the anvil.

The bench, which had earlier said it may allow registration of diesel vehicles again in Delhi and NCR, yesterday reiterated it and proposed that the green cess to be levied could be one percent of the purchase value of such vehicles and reserved the order.

Link

[simplyself]

The Hindu reports that Union Govt has informed the Supreme Court that banning SUVs with 2000 cc plus engines illogical. The govt opines that these bigger, expensive vehicles have better burning efficiency and are thus cleaner compared to the smaller ones. Also, the govt fears exodus of the foreign manufacturers who have invested in the country.

[Kandisa]

While there seems to be some silver lining on the issue, now the environmental pollution control authority has proposed 10 - 25% green tax on diesel vehicles in general depending on the engine cc. This is a much higher amount compared to the 'proposed' 1% green cess that few manufacturers volunteer to offer and Supreme Court was supposedly willing to accept! If this is implemented than it is almost the end of road for diesel vehicles any way. Link is here: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/53056411.cms