Much has been said about the alarming air pollution situation in our nation’s capital. You’ve probably heard or read that “air pollution in Delhi is twice as bad as Beijing” and “air pollution in Delhi has increased more than 5 times in just one year”. Trustworthy or not, you don’t need an investigation, survey or news alert to inform you of the worsening situation. It would be enough to get out of Delhi airport as evidence.
Gone are the days when you could enjoy working with the windows closed. That should tell you that Delhi has passed the “safe mark” in terms of air pollution levels. However, there is enough research and evidence to support this.
The Particulate Pollutant Percentage in Delhi was found to be 13 times higher than the annual recommendation of the World Health Organization and 3.5 times the air quality standard of India. And India is not a benchmark when talking about air quality standards.
India is the seventh most dangerous country in the world and the seventh most dangerous country in the world, according to findings published in 2013 by the Center for Science and the Environment (CSE), the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR), and the US-based Institute for Health Effects. the world’s largest emitters of CO2.
Given that emissions from vehicles contribute to around 70% of air pollution, it is not surprising that the government has made tackling vehicle pollution a priority. With the aim of “effectively reducing vehicle pollution levels”, the Delhi government introduced experimental regulations after receiving notes from countries around the world.
One such regulation is to allow vehicles with odd and even license plate numbers to be used on Delhi roads on alternate days. It makes sense to reduce the number of private vehicles that use Delhi roads on a daily basis. While critics have already expressed doubts about the effectiveness of this arrangement, how effective the movement will be depends on how the people of Delhi respond to this challenge.
The Delhi government has carefully asked the Public Transport Agencies to increase the frequency of their services to overcome the expected increase in the number of commuters due to the ‘odd couple dilemma’. However, we suspect that a few extra bus and metro services will not be enough to cope with the increase in daily vehicular traffic.
In such a situation, ridesharing can be the hero, providing an effective and holistic solution for all involved; vehicles, government and the environment.
Car sharing is a safe and economical way to deal with the current air pollution crisis plaguing Delhi and every citizen needs help to lower the dangerously high level of air pollution Delhi is currently in.
As the only NGO in India to provide such a platform, it is our duty to spread carpooling or carpooling as a pocket friendly and safe way to contribute to our economy and positively impact our environment.