Diesel vehicles are the worst polluters.
By Rakesh Agarwal
The citadel of fashion, Paris, has cracked down heavily on dirty old car polluting its streets as it banned the entry of all cars registered before 1997 from entering the city center on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m from July, 1.
This way, all 20 years old vehicles will become a no-no in Paris during the office hours beginning this July, a move that will get tougher with the passage of time as by 2020, pre-1997 cars will be banned from the city entirely, and the weekday restrictions will be applied to cars made before 2011. All cars display the vehicle’s age, through a sticker on their windshields and violators face a fine of up to 35 Euros (about $35), which will be jacked up to 78 Euros in 2017.
The authorities have to crack down as traffic congestion caused a sharp increase in smog and pollution in Paris in recent years, and the World Health Organization blames air pollution for about 42,000 deaths annually in France. According to a 2014 French government report, older cars, especially diesel vehicles, are the worst polluters, and recommended restricting their traffic to reduce pollution.
The move shouldn’t affect the commoners severely as Paris is known for its extensive mass-transit system, and in recent years, the city has become friendlier to cyclists and pedestrians.
Anyway, the restrictions will affect roughly 160,000 older-model vehicles, about 10% of the cars on the road in Paris.
This should be a role model for Delhi that has more than 8.8 million registered vehicles as on March 31, 2015, with many more passing through the neighboring states, to follow as the city has horrible pollution, more cars than plying on the roads of Bombay, Chennai and Calcutta together, with an overwhelming number of diesel cars that are much more polluting than those runs on petrol as a recent study from Zuyd University in the Netherlands has shown that inhalation of diesel fumes causes stress responses in the brain, which in turn causes cellular damage in the long term and the scientists from the Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment have shown in trials with mice that inhalation of the fumes can damage fetal DNA.