[sustran] FW: tehelka.com -'CNG is an elitist fetish'

[Paul Barter]

Here is an item on Delhi's air pollution issue sent by Prof Dinesh Mohan of
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi - he was interviewed by
Tehelka.com, the famous hard-hitting Indian news site.  I have included the
plain text from the article below but it is much easier to read with the
formatting at the web site itself. And there is a fine picture of Dinesh as
a bonus!  ;-)
Paul


http://www.tehelka.com/currentaffairs/apr2001/ca040601dinesh1.htm

'CNG is an elitist fetish' 

Dr Dinesh Mohan, Henry Ford professor for Transportation Safety, rubbishes
conventional wisdom and questions what he calls a "manufactured consensus"
on the viability of adopting the CNG technology and what it bodes for the
health of the city,
in this interview to Manish Chand 

New Delhi, April 6

The madness unleashed on Delhi's roads on April 1 was somewhat more than a
harmless joke. Those in the know saw it as triggered off by the government's
mishandling of the Supreme Court order that directed the Delhi government to
ensure full retrofitting of the city's public transport to Compressed
Natural Gas (CNG). Since then, the focus has mostly been on the logistics
and the economics of the switchover, but very few doubted the efficacy of
the eco-friendly technology itself. However, aided and abetted by
politicians and polemicists, scepticism is back in the air and some people
are taking a hard look at the claims being made of CNG as the magic fuel
that will clean up Delhi's polluted air. 

How far do you think is CNG a viable technology to reduce air pollution?

We shouldn't get stuck in this debate over whether CNG is important or not.
The primary issue is the improvement of the lives of people in Delhi, and in
the process a reduction in pollution. No single drug can solve the problem.
All this technological fix is like depending on drugs. That's a wrong
approach. 

In that case, what are more lasting ways to reduce pollution?

There are three ways to reduce pollution. The first way is to reduce the
number of trips people make in a day. But in a society that is poor and is
getting richer that's
a difficult thing to control. The second thing to consider is that if they
take trips, how many of them could be by non-polluting methods. 

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"The way buses are constructed today, no middle-class person who can afford
it will allow their children and women to use buses"
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The two non-polluting modes are walking and using rickshaws and bicycles.
There is enough evidence to show that if more people walk or use bicycles,
then their health naturally improves. It is a double-barrel fix. To
encourage more people to use these modes, you have to make the roads safer. 

Another thing you have to do is to separate slow traffic and fast traffic.
That is eminently feasible in Delhi as there are plenty of arterial roads
here. A report making this recommendation was made to the Delhi government
around 1998. The chief minister and transport minister of Delhi are in
favour of it. It is the professionals in the government who are holding it
back. It is not a hare-brained scheme as it has been implemented in many
countries in the world, like the US, many European countries and China. 


One reason that discourages people from walking and cycling is the popular
perception that the roads are not safe...  

Yes, the key point here is safety. It's absolutely important to ensure that
pedestrians can cross safely. Unless a crossing is safe, old men and
children cannot cross the road. Another important thing to take care of is
the fly-overs that are being made in Delhi, they discourage people from
walking and bicycling. Roads should also be free of eve teasers and crime.
If we can ensure all these, then at least 10 per cent of more people will
not be using polluting modes. 

The second way to reduce pollution is to encourage public transport so that
people do not go in for cars. Even the current buses pollute less per
passenger, so you cannot call them polluting modes. They are still
eco-friendly. We should be thankful that these buses exist. The important
thing is to make these buses safer and the way to do is to have low platform
buses with automatic doors. There is a report that says that 70 per cent of
those who get killed in public transport are during entry and exit. The way
buses are constructed today, no middle-class person who can afford it will
allow their children and women to use buses. 

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forwarded for the purposes of research and education.