New Delhi: The quality of environment around the national capital has worsened and its air pollution and congestion crisis will worsen this decade if urgent steps were not taken to address it, two leading green NGOs have warned.
According to an online survey conducted by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), most people perceive the quality of overall environment and its various dimensions affecting their lives to have deteriorated over the last decade.
A large number of people felt the quality of environment around them had worsened. Drinking water quality and availability are key concerns, the TERI survey said.
Forty eight per cent of respondents from Delhi NCR found the green cover to have reduced.
Attitude of people was identified as the most important reason for littering in public places, it says.
According to a survey conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment both particulate matter and ozone levels have exceeded standards almost on a daily basis this summer. At the same time, the share of carbon dioxide emissions from personal vehicles (which warms up the air) is increasing rapidly.
"These pollutants can snuff life out of cities," it says.
On top of that, carbon dioxide emissions from cars have added to the warming in and around the city, the survey has found.
"By 2021, car ridership will boom by an amazing 106 per cent. Bus ridership will be slowest to increase at 28 per cent. If people carrying capacity of roads drop, how will Delhi move more than 25 million person trips a day sustainably by 2021?," it asks.
Both the survey reports were released on the occasion of World Environment Day today.
PTI
