The urban population’s growing need to live a convenient life, with easy access to various places has increased the greed to own vehicles to move around. The accumulation of vehicles congesting the roads has lead to massive pollution in the environment. A large amount of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, particulate matter (PM), hydrocarbon (HC), oxides of sulfur (SO2), and methane from the vehicles has done nothing but put the earth at risk, depleting the ozone layer leading to global warming.
Causes of Vehicular Pollution
India, being the second most populated country in the world is surely one of the key reasons. Indian cities witnessed fast growth in the ownership of private vehicles, which resulted in increased road congestion, fuel emissions, and pollution. The large majority of today’s cars and trucks travel by using internal combustion engines that burn gasoline or other fossil fuels.
The process of burning gasoline to power cars and trucks contributes to air pollution by releasing a variety of emissions into the atmosphere. The present population of Andhra Pradesh stands at 5,39,03,393 as of May 2020. 96 lakh vehicles were registered by the people of Andhra Pradesh as of 2017 and the numbers have surpassed since.
The Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) level in the city was 115 mg (micron grams) on average in 2017, higher than the maximum permissible limit of 100 mg per cubic meter.
Ill Effects of Vehicular Pollution
The Head Office of the APPCB is located in Vijayawada, and 13 regional offices covering the rest of the state.
The increased concentration of such harmful emissions harms human life, majorly causing respiratory issues such as asthma and bronchitis, and even cancer. High exposure to these emissions will also result in the death of a person.
Relentless efforts in the efficient implementation of environmental policies, laws, regulations, and developing frameworks to manage both natural resources and wastes of the State have been taken by the Board.
The state has also seen a growth of vehicles after the state was bifurcated. The development of good infrastructure, besides the state emerging as a major IT hub, has enabled the accelerated growth of vehicles. There are 57.53 lakhs of Motor vehicles in different categories in Andhra Pradesh state
The pollution load produced by different vehicles is as follows
| Two wheelers | 56.2% |
| Three wheelers | 9.08% |
| Four wheelers (Petrol) | 12.0% |
| Four wheelers (Diesel) | 2.00% |
| Trucks | 18.85% |
| Buses | 1.54% |
| Others | 0.26% |
Sources
Andhra Pradesh population – http://www.populationu.com/in/andhra-pradesh-population
Registered vehicles in AP – http://www.statista.com/statistics/665519/total-number-of-vehicles-in-andhra-pradesh-india/
Roshni, a class 11 student is an ardent nature lover. She has participated in several Model United Nations in which she discussed environmental and social issues. Sketching is her favorite pass time.