india

Updated: Jul 08, 2019 23:58 IST

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (Epca) has sought the apex court’s ‘urgent’ intervention to break the stalemate between the centre and Delhi government that is holding up work on the 104-km-long phase-4 of the Delhi Metro.

In response, the Supreme Court (SC) asked the Centre and Delhi government to come prepared with their responses on Friday, when the matter will be heard next.

The bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta said, “You take instructions. We will pass order. This project cannot wait”.

In its special report, submitted to the SC on July 1, the Epca has also sought the court’s intervention to expedite the approval process and schedule for induction of new buses in the city.

“Epca is bringing this report to the SC and is seeking its urgent intervention on the following issues — resolve the pending issues that are delaying the approval for phase IV of the Delhi metro and expedition of the approval process and schedule for induction of new buses in the city,” says the 14-page report.

This becomes more important because according to a 2018 study by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the transport sector contributes up to 28% of the city’s pollution during winter. Safar, the union earth science ministry’s pollution forecasting agency, had said in a report, that vehicles are the source of 40% of PM2.5 content in the city.

“It will not be possible for Delhi to tackle pollution unless it control its activities at ground-level. As the transport sector is one of the major contributors to the city’s pollution, the city will need a robust public transport system,” said D Saha, former head of the air quality laboratory at Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Epca also stressed the same in its latest report.

The proposal for phase-4 of the Delhi Metro was first submitted in 2014 and work was to begin by 2016. But there has been a long-continuing stalemate in the discussions between the Union and Delhi governments on financial aspects of the project.

Epca has proposed that even as the unresolved issues are ironed out, it is important to allow three corridors of the phase-4 Metro be constructed, which have got the clearances necessary.

The Delhi government has not added new buses into its fleet for the past four years. Delhi has 17 buses per lakh people compared to 107 buses per lakh people in Beijing. But what is also alarming is that these buses are ageing — all of DTC’s current 3,600 on-road buses are over eight years-old and it will be necessary to phase them out in the next few years.

“Unless the governments expand the public transport system, any effort such as hiking parking fees or introducing odd-even schemes to curtail the private transport during severe pollution will be futile. More people will be inclined towards private transport like two-wheelers and app-based taxis to avoid crowded buses,” said Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning at School of Planning and Architecture.

According to previous SC directions, the city should have 10,000 buses. A 2018 study by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System found that with route rationalisation, the city requires 11,500 buses. “As against this, the city has only 5,279 buses. There is a shortfall of 4,000-5,000 buses, discounting the ageing of the current fleet,” says the report.