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Miles to go

  • 14/03/2000

Miles to go H B MATHUR
While the last century belonged to liquid fuels, this century is going to witness a preference for gaseous fuels, which are renewable and also comparatively cleaner.

With time there is bound to be a shift towards gaseous fuels such as natural gas and ultimately hydrogen, which is the most clean burning fuel with attributes of perennial renewal.

The reduction in exhaust emission by running a vehicle on compressed natural gas ( cng ) is too substantial to be ignored. According to a study conducted by the Brooklyn Union Gas Company, usa , running a bus on cng will reduce suspended particulate matter (spm) - a deadly air pollutant - by as much as 90 per cent.

Other harmful gases like carbon monoxide ( co ) and nitrogen oxides ( no x ) will be reduced by 71 and 72 per cent respectively. And the total pollution from a bus running on cng is reduced by as much as 69 per cent. These results highlight how important it is to implement the Supreme Court order to run all buses on this clean burning fuel.

The case for cng becomes even stronger if one looks at its availability. According to estimates drawn by the Gas Authority of India Limited (gail), availability of natural gas is likely to be 122 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) by 2001. This is a slap in the face of conventional fuels like petrol and diesel.

High speed diesel ( hsd ) demand in India, on the other hand has shot up from 22.2 million metric tonnes (mmt) in 1990-91 to 41.18 mmt in 1999-2000. This figure is projected to go up to 55.11 mmt by 2005, leaving a deficiency of 29 mmt which has to be met through imports. Petrol demand has increased from 3.8 mmt in 1990-91 to 6.9 mmt in 1999-2000 and is likely to exceed 8.8 mmt by 2005, leaving a deficit of 3 mmt to be met by imports.

The import bill for petroleum products has now shot up to Rs 54,000 crore in foreign exchange and is likely to shoot higher. Continuously rising prices of petroleum products is bound to have an impact on the cost of all other essential items. Therefore, besides conservation of fuel and adaptation of improved technologies, there is also a pressing need to substitute liquid petroleum fuels in the transport sector with gaseous fuels like cng .

cng is finding increasing application in the power, fertiliser, sponge iron, petrochemical and transport sectors. Several countries like Italy and New Zealand have been successfully in using cng in the transportation sector. Therefore, there should be no doubt about its usefulness in our country.

H B Mathur, Professor, Delhi College of Engineering

RAJIV SHARMA
Cng is doubtlessly a cleaner fuel and the best possible option for Delhi. Besides autorickshaws and taxis, the Supreme Court has also ordered that the entire bus fleet in Delhi should be running on cng by March 31, 2001.

We have requested the dtc to finalise a plan to implement the orders of the court. However, it appears that to date no concrete steps have been taken by the dtc to convert their fleet of buses to run on cng within the deadline set by the Supreme Court.

The present scenario, therefore, is that while Indraprastha Gas Limited ( igl ) is preparing to set up 80 cng dispensing stations as ordered by the Supreme Court, the other steps required to ensure that vehicles in the city run on cng are lagging far behind.

igl has already set up 11 cng filling stations in Delhi but acquiring land to establish more cng stations is proving to be difficult. Moreover, several of the cng stations set up by igl have not been provided with electricity connections. To address this problem we have already requested the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (ndmc ) and the Delhi Vidyut Board to set up a task force along with the igl to set up power connections for the cng stations.

Yet another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration when we talk about cng as a standard fuel for vehicles is the cost of the equipments required to establish and maintain a fleet of vehicles running on cng . Most of the equipment/machinery/material of a cng dispensing station are manufactured outside India. Importing them under an import duty of up to 67 per cent makes these equipments very expensive. Since now there is need for cng vehicles in order to check pollution, may be the government should consider zero import duty for the required items. Such a measure would surely prove to be an incentive for vehicle owners to opt for cng as fuel.

Rajiv Sharma, Managing Director, Indraprastha Gas Limited

BALJIT MALIK
It would be a good step if the government registers only those autorickshaws and taxis that run on cng . But how serious are the petrol companies about installing cng refilling stations in the city? Take, for instance, the petrol pump I own on Janpath. We have been in service since the 1930s. I strongly believe that in order to tackle pollution, along with clean fuel, the engine of the vehicle must also be looked after. So, besides supplying petrol, we also have an integrated workshop where we employ 40 mechanics who attend to faulty vehicles.

Since June 1999, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited ( bpcl ) has been telling us about plans to install a cng refilling unit in the station. But now they want me to close down the workshop in order to set up the cng unit. As far as I know, bpcl wants the land on which the workshop is situated to construct a cybercafe. Their insistence could be fuelled by the fact that the bpcl has no share in the earnings from the workshop. Moreover, there is no need to remove the workshop as adequate space is available to install a cng refilling unit. Already the workers have moved the court against this manoeuvre by the bpcl.

Moreover, I feel that, besides taxis and three-wheelers, private and government vehicles must also opt for cng . This is especially because the number of government and private vehicles on Delhi roads is far more than that of public transport. Besides, environmental organisations should involve groups like the Delhi Petrol Dealers Organisation when addressing problems related to vehicular pollution. These groups are mostly profit-based organisations and they should be made aware of the environmental impacts caused by irresponsible acts like disposal of oil into local drains without any prior treatment.

Baljit Malik, Proprietor, Modern Service Station, Janpath, New Delhi

RAJIV TALWAR
Recent concerns over cng contributing to global warming does not have any viable basis in a city where air pollutants like spm (present in vehicular exhaust) are reaching dangerous levels.

If cng cannot be used as a standard fuel for vehicles due to the global warming problem, then why are Concorde planes allowed in the skies? These are supposed to contribute to global warming as well. We, therefore, have to be more rational about our priorities and take policy decisions accordingly.

The Delhi government is completely in favour of the Supreme Court's directive to run buses, autorickshaws and taxis on cng . Although we have been trying our level best to implement the court order, there is a lot of resistance from various lobbies. Environmentally speaking, the high level of spm in Delhi's air is definitely a cause for alarm. Since the technology to totally remove particles from vehicular exhaust is not yet available, we have to opt for the best possible alternative which is to adopt cng as fuel for vehicles. However, we must strive to finally move on to zero emission vehicles.

The Delhi government has already initiated several measures to introduce vehicles running on cng as soon as possible. We have given orders to the transport department not to register any autorickshaws or taxis if they are not running on cng from April 1, 2000. The government is also trying to convert all buses of the Delhi Transport Corporation (dtc) that are running for over eight years to cng by April 1, 2000.

Rajiv Talwar, Secretary, Department of Environment, New Delhi
Chairperson, Delhi Pollution Control Committee

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