1. Policy measures adopted in metro cities: New Delhi Anumita Roychowdhury Centre for Science and Environment The World Bank Mumbai May 14, 2002 New Delhi Urban Air Quality Management

2. Problems in managing air pollution There is no national action plan to deal with air pollution. The laws are weak and not legally binding. No punitive action for state governments for not meeting the ambient air quality norms. In Delhi, nothing happens till the courts intervene.

3. Public campaign: A catalyst November 1, 1996: CSE released Slow Murder: The deadly story of vehicular pollution in India November 18, 1996: The Supreme Court of India issued suo moto notice to the Delhi government to submit an action plan to control city’s air pollution following the media reports on the CSE study. December 1996: The Delhi government presented it’s first ever action plan to the Court to combat air pollution in Delhi. November 1, 1997: CSE released its findings on mortality and morbidity in Indian cities and held government inaction responsible for this. November 4, 1997: The environment minister announced his plans to issue a white paper on pollution and an action plan by December 2, 1997. January 7, 1998: The Supreme Court directed setting up of a statutory body to advise Court on pollution control and monitor implementation of Court orders.

4. Public campaign: A catalyst Judicial process needs strong technical backup to aid in definitive Judgement Dramatic spin off as civil society intervenes  1987-1997: The only substantive Court ruling – introduction of cat converters and unleaded petrol.  After 1997: As public campaign gathers momentum, a spate of significant rulings follow.

5. Court sets the agenda Important Supreme Court rulings in Delhi On fuel quality Elimination of leaded petrol Petrol and diesel with 500 ppm sulphur and petrol with 1 per cent benzene Mandated supply of pre-mix petrol to two- and three-wheelers On vehicle technology Advanced enforcement of Euro II emissions standards for both petrol and diesel cars in April 2000 On alternative fuels Move three-wheelers and taxis to CNG or clean fuels Move the entire city bus fleet to CNG Other measures Strengthen air quality monitoring Create bus terminus at the city boundaries to bypass incoming traffic Set up two independent fuel testing laboratories to check adulteration Directed special drives to check adulteration

6. Visible impact

7. Weak governance Frequently raised doubts about Judicial intervention:  How can court take technology decision on pollution management?  Civil society action and judicial intervention are seen as knee jerk reactions as these are not aligned with larger planning processes, catch industry off-guard not giving enough time to improve, and governments resent Judiciary donning the role of executive. The answer  Court intervention is the only way to work around the problems stemming from imperfect and weak institutions and regulations.  Poor technical capacity of the institutions to deal with air quality management and lack of political commitment leave no choice.  The Court has proved that it is possible to push industry to meet tighter standards than they are prepared to commit.

8. Weak governance The issue: Why even after 15 years of court action basic principles of planning are not in place? While the government falters on establishing precautionary and health based criteria to guide and implement air quality regulations, the courts rule on the basis of fundamental rights to life, supremacy of public health over economic costs, and polluters pay principle.

9. The process of the court intervention Supreme Court EPCA Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry of Environment and Forests Delhi Government Indraprastha Gas Ltd Civil Society Organisations Automobile Industry Research Institutes Responsible for implementation Monitors progress Reports to SC, recommends future action Transporters Technical and research inputs

10. Weak institutional response With each ruling need for judicial intervention increases Example: The ruling on CNG Implementation of this ruling needed immediate official action in the following areas: Emission standards Safety Standards Infrastructure for distribution of gas Fiscal policy But in each of these areas the court had to define even strategies for implementation

11. Technical backup In the absence of official action Court appointed committee had to recommend Clean fuel strategy for Delhi Safety regulations for CNG vehicles The Court had to propose fiscal penalty on diesel buses And now the pricing policy for CNG Price of CNG increased thrice in two years making it costlier than diesel taking away the financial incentive No financial incentive to manufacturers or consumers to shift to alternative fuels, except for three-wheelers

12. Official inaction is broadening the ambit of judicial intervention. Example: The Supreme Court ruling of April 5, 2002 directs government to firm up clean fuel strategy for critically polluted cities of India. While assessing the appropriateness of the measures it is not possible to isolate them from the process that has enabled them. The critical issue is how to improve governance?

13. Improving governance Air pollution laws are not legally binding Today accountability works only if the Court fixes responsibility on officials or imposes penalty on government Process of integrated planning is not understood Governance improves only with accountability

14. Policy Planning Group Public Transport Group Traffic Management Group Infrastructure Development Group Enforcement Group Sustainable Public Transport Promotion, Provision & operation Monitoring Support and feeder system Roads & road structures Non-motorized & pedestrian sub-systems Parking & terminals Inter changes Maintenance Enforcement of rules & regulations Encroachment Pollution control Policy Guidelines Finance & cooperation Traffic structures Provision of land transport Traffic Management Strategic action plan for zones Parking Road safety

15. The policy issues for civil society Identify leapfrogging options.  Slow incremental process of improving engine and fuel standards is possible in countries in the forefront of technology. Not in India that is lagging behind by more than 10 years. Introduce special and more stringent fuel and emission standards for pollution hot spots in the country.  But making this quantum leap with the help of clean conventional fuels is turning out to be far more difficult than that based on an alternative fuel strategy. The Supreme court order of moving the public transport to CNG or other clean fuel in Delhi is the first ever step towards a quantum leap. Gaseous fuels can also eliminate the problem of fuel adulteration which is a very serious problem in India.

16. Strategies to technology leapfrogging A KEY QUESTION Do we have to go through the same stages of environmental management that the West went through or can we leapfrog? Pre-Euro I Poor diesel Euro I Improved diesel Euro II Natural gas Euro III Hydrogen Euro IV

17. Need fiscal instrument Need fiscal policies to make clean technologies competitive. Need official policy to promote the transition. Need to factor in health costs. Never done till now. Notify more enhanced standards (tighter than the conventional fuel standards) for alternative fuel vehicles.

18. Fiscal policy for technology transition Example Delhi has the highest per capita income and the lowest diesel prices compared to other metros. Entire CNG conversion could have been funded by bringing diesel prices at par with other metros. In 1998-99, diesel sale in Delhi was 1,451 million litres. An additional sales tax of Re 1 in 1999 and 2000 would have fetched about Rs 300 crore. Increasing the price of diesel to that of Mumbai would have netted the government over Rs. 450 crore in one year. Road taxes for cars and scooters in Delhi are very low. The road tax for cars in Chennai is twice that of Delhi.

19. More to do Improve air quality surveillance system and inventory process in all cities. Develop smog alert system for cities along with pollution emergency measures for an immediate local impact. Control in-use vehicles: Comprehensive inspection programme must come along with legally enforceable emissions warranty and recall programme and tighter in-use emissions standards. Design appropriate fiscal measures to encourage fast replacement of old vehicles. Develop comprehensive transportation plan to control number of private vehicles and promote public transport. Use command and control measures to discourage ownership and usage of private vehicles. The Challenge The real challenge is that even with all interventions and proposed actions, air quality target will remain elusive for a very long time in Delhi.

20. The challenge ahead Do we continue to depend on Court for directions on each of these issues listed? If not then what will be the structured process for addressing these concerns? It is possible to bring about change in political attitude and even break bureaucratic resistance through advocacy and information sharing. It is also possible to have constructive dialogue with the industry and bring about change. Example, CSE’s green rating project of benchmarking environmental performance of the industry. Create a network of regulators to create informed opinion within the regulatory agencies that may catalyse official action.

21. Thank You