NEW DELHI: Delhi is the worst city in terms of emission standards and use of fuel among 14 cities across the country, a report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has stated.
"Delhi, despite being the third highest for a high share of public transport trips, tanks to the bottom as overall emissions and fuel use are highest due to the sheer number of people, high volume of travel and personal vehicles, and long trip distances," notes the report by the environmental think tank.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy, CSE, said, "This review has become necessary as greenhouse gas emissions from transport, the third highest currently among all sectors, has recorded the steepest increase."
"This is also responsible for health-damaging toxic exposure. Growing dependence on personal vehicles for the urban commuting can lead to irreversible negative trends and damage," she added.
"This ranking proves that for clean and low carbon mobility, cities need policies to stop urban sprawl; reduce distances between residence, jobs and recreation through compact urban forms; scale up integrated public transport, walking and cycling; and put restraints on the use of personal vehicles to avert pollution and climate crisis," she added.
The report further states that Bhopal has an edge over all 14 cities which were assessed and ranked, including the mega cities, in terms of overall emission and energy use. Bhopal has an advantage in terms of lower population, as well as fewer vehicles and vehicle miles travelled compared to mega cities.
"Even though its personal transport use is higher, its average trip length of different modes is second lowest among all the cities," the report said.
Southern cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai scored poorly as well. Though they have a lower share of public transport compared to Delhi, they have scored better only because their total travel volumes are comparatively lower given their population levels, the report states.
Among the 14 cities, Vijayawada, Chandigarh, Kochi, Lucknow and Jaipur have performed better than the six mega cities because of their smaller population and lower number of vehicles, it added.