Env Min seeks plans to raise frequency of buses & Metros
New Delhi: Even as the Delhi government and the Centre find themselves at loggerheads over the share of stubble burning in Delhi's air pollution, Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday held an urgent meeting with officials of the DTC and the DMRC —seeking a plan to increase the frequency of public transportation - so that vehicular emissions can be cut down.
The Delhi government has time and time again said that one of the key ways to curb vehicular pollution is to build a robust public transportation system.
And in the wake of studies that declared vehicular and industrial emissions to be the lead cause of pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Environment Minister directed the officials of the Delhi Transport Corporation and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to present a plan on how they can increase the frequency of vehicles under them, an official present in the meeting told Millennium Post.
While the Delhi Metro is already running all available trains at pre-pandemic frequencies, the DTC is running its full fleet of over 3,700 buses in the city. However, under instructions from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, neither buses nor Metro trains allow standing passengers — severely curtailing their carrying capacity.
Given this situation, officials in the DMRC have said that allowing standing passengers would be the easiest way to increase usage but added that this would be a problem when it came to enforcing Covid restrictions. He also added that the DMRC may be able to increase the frequency of trains if asked.
The Minister's response came after SC slammed the Delhi government over pollution in the city. The Centre informed the Supreme Court that only 10 per cent of the pollution in the city is being caused due to stubble burning in the neighbouring states while claiming 74 per cent of the pollution is caused due to industries, dust and vehicles within the city.
Rai in the meeting asked officials to come up with ways in which commuters can use the public transport frequently and how else they can be motivated. The Metro services will be carried out in higher frequency depending on the demand but the final plan is yet to be laid down, the official said.
The Environment Department is also looking into ways in which shared transportation and public transport systems can be boosted and more commuters can switch from private vehicles to public transport temporarily.
