[sustran] FW: CSE, India on CNG campaign in Delhi

[Paul Barter]

...
What's new at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi,
India. 

SABOTAGE

The saboteurs' campaign to derail the Supreme Court orders to move public 
transport to CNG has reached a feverish pitch, betraying a tone of almost 
desperation.

The Right To Clean Air Team exposes the saboteurs and the games they are 
playing.



The past five months have been incredible. When we launched 
our campaign for clean air in 1996, with the publication of the 
book, Slow Murder, we had no idea that we were entering into a 
realm of high intrigue and deception. In all our years of public 
work, we had never seen such powerful vested interests at work, 
and indeed the lengths and depths they are prepared to go to 
compromise public health.

The one thrill is that we have achieved what we set out to do, at 
least to some extent. The air of Delhi is cleaner. People can feel 
the difference. It is not that pollution levels have dropped 
dramatically, but that we have stemmed the rot and stabilised 
pollution. Delhi has added over 200,000 vehicles in the last year 
itself and it has more vehicles than Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai 
put together. But the capital's pollution levels are coming down 
unlike the other cities, which are choking and wheezing because 
of unhealthy air.

The saga of saboteurs has been fascinating learning. When we 
published our cover story 'Saboteurs' (Down To Earth, 
Vol 9, No 20) on the implementation of the Supreme Court (SC) 
order of July 1998 to convert the Delhi's public transport to 
compressed natural gas (CNG), we hardly noticed the devious role 
of the greatest saboteur, the ministry of petroleum and natural 
gas (MPNG). Till April 2001, it did nothing probably because the 
ministry's high command did not think the court order would be 
implemented (as its then secretary pointed out). There was never 
any question of shortage of gas to supply Delhi and certainly the 
fact that gas reserves of India were depleting was never the issue. 
Till March, the disinformation campaign centred on the unreliability 
of the untested technology. CNG buses had not made it to the 
roads in large numbers and experts came up with wild statements 
that politicians lapped up buses would blow up in Delhi's 
extraordinary summer, the buses would not drive up the inclines of 
flyovers, etc. But by May, there were enough buses on the roads 
to vindicate the technology.

Now a new game was in town. We learnt how easy it was to 
tell a lie and how difficult to dig up the truth. Three main tricks were 
played. The first strategy was to confuse the public with an alternative 
that did not exist. The Tata Energy Research Institute
(TERI) led this plank. It advocated the use of ultra low sulphur diesel
(ULSD), which has less than 0.005 per cent sulphur as the alternative in 
public. But when asked to make a recommendation to the court, through the 
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control)
Authority (EPCA), it quietly recommended low sulphur diesel (0.05 per 
cent)which is currently in use in Delhi. The idea of the missing zero was 
brilliant. It completely confounded the media and, of course, was 
purposely used by the politicians to promote clean diesel, which was a 
fancy terminology for current diesel.

MPNG led the second brigade to push the line that there was no gas. Oops, 
we forgot. Sorry, there is no gas in the country. The Gas Authority of 
India Ltd (GAIL), which reports to the petroleum 
ministry, was given the gag order. The plight of bus and 
autorickshaw drivers waiting all night, maybe even longer, made 
hearts bleed. CNG was anti-poor. CNG was unworkable. Politicians 
jumped in to fight for justice. The anger against CNG grew. Brilliant.

The third plank was to attack CNG itself. As the air of Delhi got 
visibly cleaner, convoluted science and models were used by TERI 
to show that we should forget that we could breathe better. 
Actually the air was getting worse, they said. If there was any 
improvement it was because of the monsoon. Forget that the 
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) figures showed marked 
improvements. In this attack, the prestige of an Indian Institute of 
Technology (IIT) was roped in as its professor, Dinesh Mohan, with 
funds from oil and motor companies went on a binge using 
assumptions and models to discredit CNG. So great was the 
confusion caused that diesel suddenly was being viewed as clean 
(it only causes asthma said one newspaper) while CNG was the 
devil (it causes cancer). The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), 
which is certainly not known for its agility of action, was last seen 
rubbing out the signage on its buses, so that instead of 'CNG 
pollution free bus' it only read as CNG bus. Of course, at times with 
the Freudian slip of the brush, some buses now read 'polluting 
CNG bus.'

In all this disinformation was the key. Stories were planted with 
impunity in the media. For instance, it was widely and frequently 
reported that the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) had 
filed an affidavit going against its committee, the EPCA, and that 
it supported current diesel as a clean fuel. It was said so often that 
it became the truth, at least in the public mind. We found out 
later that the ministry had done no such thing. In fact, it had 
opposed the diesel lobby.

What remains unclear is what solution the anti-CNGwallahs are 
advocating. After all we were not in a high school debate on CNG 
versus diesel. The operation was to find solutions to air pollution in 
the city. All written presentations to the EPCA recommended the 
use of current diesel as clean fuel. There is absolutely no scientific 
basis that this will reduce air pollution given Delhi's extremely high 
bus density, pollution levels and growing number of vehicles. TERI 
still advocates ULSD publicly but only because it knows that the 
government will not import or produce clean, near-sulphurless 
diesel, and that the technology of particulate traps (which can 
bring down pollution levels) is still far from being implemented in 
the country. Tata Engineering (TELCO) in its written submission to 
EPCA also says that in any case it will take two years for it to 
manufacture a Euro II compliant bus with a simple particulate 
trap. The MPNG, of course, is even more obvious. It wants current 
diesel and only just that. Nothing more.

We cannot have buses on one fuel only. No other city in the 
world has done this. We should not dictate a technology option. 
Let the market decide. We must have a comprehensive 
approach. Pearls of wisdom. Who can disagree with their 
sagacity? But can they be implemented in ungoverned India? 
Can the court simply say, follow the emission norms, use any 
technology, just make sure it cleans the air of Delhi? Let there be 
a mix of CNG and diesel buses. Implement your own law. That 
would be as good as saying, let the government govern. What a 
good idea!

What will happen next is hard to say. Director-general 
of TERI, R K Pachauri, in a recent article says that public 
decisions cannot be based on personal ill-health. But 
then, what should public decisions be based on? Profits, deep 
pockets?

Right To Clean Air Campaign Team
Centre for Science and Environment


More details at

http://www.cseindia.org/html/cmp/air/cng/cng_index.htm

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....

Sucheta Sharma
Website Unit
Centre for Science and Environment


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