Air pollution

Air pollution in Delhi is caused mainly by industry and vehicles.^[16][7] As many as 10,000 people a year may die prematurely in Delhi as a result of air pollution.^[17] According to one study, Delhi citizens would live on average an extra nine years if Delhi met WHO air quality standards.^[18] The 1997 White Papersponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests already proposed various measures to bring down pollution caused by traffic, including smoothing the flow of traffic with parking regulations and bringing down total traffic by mandatory limits on driving.^[19] City authorities claim to have had some success in bringing down air pollution; for instance, during the bidding process for the 2014 Asian Games, the city's organizing committee had claimed that "pollution levels had come down drastically in Delhi with the arrival of Metro rail as well as all public transport vehicle being run compulsorily on CNG(Compressed Natural Gas)."^[10]

For traffic related sources, growth in vehicle numbers and mileage seems to outpace efforts to reduce emissions.^[20] A study by IIT Kanpur^[16] states that the two most consistent sources for PM10 and PM2.5 are secondary particles and vehicles. Secondary particles themselves are generated by industry and vehicles. Road dust contributes significantly, esp in the summer. The EPCA report^[21]indicates that particles from coal and diesel are more harmful than wind blown dust.