Automobile addiction cause of pollution in Asia: CSE

New Delhi, Apr 23 (UNI) One of the biggest challenges confronting Asian cities today is the intractable problem of automobile dependence, according to a new Centre for Science and Environment study.

Even as they struggle to phase in high-efficiency and low emission vehicle technology to cut air pollution and energy use, automobile dependence continued to grow, adversely affecting the quality of urban life, CSE's research published in its latest book 'The Leapfrog Factor: Clearing the air in Asian cities' said.

''New evidence confirmed that the estimated health effects of air pollution in Indian and Asian cities are similar to those found in Western countries. But Indian and developing Asian cities are more at risk due to unique factors such as extremely high levels, risk of multiple pollutants going up together, and the impact of poverty.'' Congestion, unsafe roads and pollution remained their bane.

Unless accompanied by policies to restrict the growth in car and motorised two-wheeler travel, cities would run hard only to stand still, it said.

The trend was expected to take a turn for the worse in Asia as motorisation attained dizzying heights here, while it was levelling off in the West. Despite a very small minority using cars in Asian cities, the available road space and transport-related investment were getting locked up only to cater to them, it added.

Public transport, bicycles and pedestrian facilities used by the vast urban majority, especially the urban poor, remain neglected.

Due to these distortions the poor end up paying an enormous cost for their travel, while car users did not even pay the full cost of car travel. Indian cities, in fact, penalised public transport with higher taxes compared to personal vehicles, it stated further.

''In fact, the growing air pollution menace is deadly for the urban poor in India, 50 to 60 per cent of who live in slums. Each year, two-third of the 0.8 million deaths and 4.6 million lost life years attributed to air pollution worldwide, occur in developing Asian countries.'' At its root lay the failure of public transport in cities. Only about eight of the 35 Indian cities that had population exceeding one million, had dedicated, effective bus services. Smaller cities were even more constrained, the study said.

Despite the odds, public transport in a few big metros did meet exceptionally high travel demands - 88 per cent in Mumbai, 76 per cent in Kolkata, 70 per cent in Chennai and 62 per cent in Delhi. But governments did not have any policy to protect and increase this captive ridership, it added.

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