In a second reminder, a high-level committee on air quality for Ahmedabad has once again reminded the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) of opting for CNG buses instead of new diesel buses. It was only recently that AMTS bus service had decided to replace the 400 odd CNG buses. Over the last five years, CNG-run buses were being strategically phased out in Ahmedabad, even as diesel engines continue to spew out venomous particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM 2.5) and NOx gases into the air we breathe.
Ahmedabad’s BRTS, which started in 2004 with the concept of buses run on clean fuel like CNG, has transformed its fleet to 220 Euro III and Euro IV complaint diesel buses today, and just 25 old CNG buses remain. The AMTS, too, has ordered 330 diesel buses to add to its existing 725-strong CNG bus fleet. The trend continues despite the fact that the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) claimed in its 2013 report that even Bharat Stage IV complaint diesel vehicles spew out seven times more PM 2.5 than petrol vehicles.
“The diminishing difference between diesel and CNG fuels, has affected clean public transport. In May 2010, the cost of a litre of diesel was Rs 40 while that of CNG was Rs27.50 per kg. Today, the difference is of a few rupees,” said a senior AMC official. Luc Robitaille Jersey
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