New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) To arrest the deteriorating air quality in the national Capital due to vehicular emissions, the Delhi Government should immediately address the issue of shortage of 2,250 public transport buses and complement it with last-mile connectivity options, recommended a CAG report on air pollution.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance audit of ‘Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi’, tabled by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in Assembly on Tuesday, said the Government should do route rationalisation on priority to use the existing fleet optimally.

Suggesting route rationalisation to use the existing bus fleet optimally, the CAG report said that the skills of the existing repair and maintenance staff need to be matched to the operational buses by training them and applying their services suitably for proper upkeep and maintenance of the vehicles.

The CAG report said that because of a shortage of public transport buses, 238 out of 657 notified bus routes were completely unserved.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses had altogether stopped providing NCR connectivity. Further, the number of Gramin-Sewa Vehicles for last-mile connectivity has also remained the same since May 2011, said the report of the central government auditor.

Expressing concern over inadequate checking of polluting vehicles entering Delhi’s border, the CAG said there were 128 entry points from where vehicles enter the UT.

“Out of these, 80 per cent of the commercial vehicles enter Delhi from 13 entry points,” it said.

The audit, however, observed that enforcement teams were being deployed at only seven entry points in the national Capital. “Besides shortage of staff, the enforcement teams did not have vehicle-mounted PUC equipment to check visibly polluting vehicles,” the report said.

To cope with the growing demands of Delhi, the report also said, “The Government should actively consider and finalise schemes to provide suitable alternatives to public transport buses so that earmarked budget for the same is used fruitfully.”

The CAG report said that no action was taken by the AAP government on alternatives like eco-friendly Light Rail Transit and Monorail.

“Acute shortage of buses and absence of last mile connectivity options has led to a situation where the public is forced to use personal vehicles, including two-wheelers, resulting in doubling of the number of vehicles during the last decade. This had adverse impact on air quality in Delhi,” said the CAG report.

–IANS

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