Three-wheelers generate pollution, halt haphazardly, resulting in traffic woes for commuters Neeraj Bagga Amritsar, April 28 In the absence of a sound public transport system, the number of autorickshaws in the city are on the rise. Three-wheelers can be seen parked hither and thither along roadsides, besides creating pollution. A city resident, Parvinder Singh, said unregulated flow of autos adds to traffic woes and increases pollution, which becomes intolerable during high temperature in the afternoon. Autorickshaws remain parked along roadsides in wait of customers. In the meantime, they emanate pollution which is unbearable. Meanwhile, a study on vehicular pollution carried out by the Punjab Pollution Control Board near Bhandari railway overbridge a few years ago, revealed that it was the most polluted area of the city. At the bridge, the particulates were found as high as 599 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during peak hours while it was 232 µgm/m3 during lean traffic hours. Another city resident, Harpreet Singh, said there was no alternative mass transport service other than autos in the city. “In case a person does not have vehicle, he or she will have to rely on autos or cycle-rickshaw. The government had introduced City Bus Service but it failed to deliver the desired results. Now, Bus Rapid Transport Service (BRTS) is under construction,” he said. The sorry state of affairs of the city’’s transport system was highlighted by the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) prepared by the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) for the development of the city in the next four decades. Its assessment revealed that a household expenditure on transportation was higher than the expenses incurred on housing, education or health in Amritsar. The expenditure comes close to the amount spent on food. The expected expenditure on transportation is about Rs 2,090 per household. The number of two-wheelers and autorickshaws has increased significantly in the city since 2005. It was found that over 14.20 lakh personal trips were generated in the Amritsar Municipal Corporation area on an average day. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the BRTS was conceived to offer a comfortable and cheap alternative transport system to people. He said the focus was on making people opt for economic mass transport, which would curtail their expenditure and would also curb pollution. Studies conducted by several agencies have pointed out lack of mass transport as the major reason behind rising pollution and expensive transportation cost in the holy city.

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