Mask up! Traffic congestion jams your lungs with poison

Vehicles spew 18 per cent PM 2.5 in the peak evening hours

Traffic congestion is the major contributor of air pollution in the National Capital. According to the Decision Support System (DSS) of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, for Air Quality Management in Delhi, emission from transportation accounts contributed to around 11.2 percent air pollution on Monday.

According to a study by IIT Kanpur, the contribution from the local on-road transport sector to diurnal mean PM 2.5 is largest (18%) during the evening traffic peak. It is dominated by contributions from two- and three-wheelers (50%) followed by heavy-duty vehicles (30%), which also collectively represent 60-70% of the total on-road transport sector at any hour of the day.

Breakdown of vehicles and ongoing construction works by agencies like Delhi Metro, Delhi Jal Board and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) added woes to the congestion, causing inconvenience to daily office goers in the morning and deteriorating air pollution. Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Mehrauli-Gurugram Road, Netaji Subhash Marg, Wazirabad Road, Raja Garden Road, Kashmere Gate ISBT, Sadar Bazar, Chirag Dilli, roads surroundings major markets including Sarojini Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Lajpat Nagar, Kamla Nagar were among those areas witnessed heavy traffic on Monday.

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