Vehicular pollution control in Delhi

Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world caused by spectacular vehicular growth in the past 2–3 decades. To restore the air quality and refurbish its image, a number of command and control policy instruments have been implemented in Delhi. The paper attempts to investigate whether the enactment of policy instruments and the efforts have led to commensurate fall in air pollution in Delhi. The analysis shows that the imposition has not resulted in concomitant improvement in ambient air quality. One of the reasons is reliance on new vehicles, with little emphasis on in-service vehicles. Even with new vehicles, the focus is on emission limits not on the limit on ambient air quality. With between 370 and 600 new vehicles being registered every day, any expectation of improvement in air quality is fare-fetched. The paper concludes that the containment of vehicular pollution requires an integrated approach, with combined use of transport policies and air pollution control instruments.