Anshuman Rawat

It’s very good that the city is gradually but almost totally embracing the CNG path for public transport vehicles. However, it needs to augment the goodness with some refreshing green of nature too.

Recently when a doctor from Bangalore visited the city to attend a conference, he could not help but comment on the cleaner and greener Ahmedabad. “It has really changed a lot since the days I used to live here”. While the ‘greener’ part of his observation is a bit debatable, there is not even an iota of doubt that the usual Amdavadi air feels a lot cleaner these days. A lot of the credit for the same should go to making CNG mandatory for AMTS city buses and auto rickshaws.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for petrol or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an environmentally ’clean’ and is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. It is stored and distributed in hard containers, usually cylinders.

Natural Gas is an organic compound that is found deep within the earth. It is a fossil fuel formed over millions of years of geological pressures and changes. Natural gas is primarily methane comprised of hydrogen and carbon.

CNG is often confused with LNG. While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is in compressed form, while LNG is in liquified form.

In the wake of torturously high fuel prices and environmental concerns, compressed natural gas is fast gaining currency across the globe as an economical and ‘healthy’ fuel. It is now increasingly used in light-duty passenger vehicles and pickup trucks, medium-duty delivery trucks, and in transit and school buses.

The two soccer power-houses of the world, Brazil and Argentina, are  two countries with the largest fleets of CNG vehicles. Other South American nations are following them to dot the landscape with CNG stations. Closer home, our neighbours on either flank, Pakistan and Bangladesh, seem to be competing with us in the race towards conversion from regular fuel to CNG. In fact, according to the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, Pakistan has the third-largest number of natural gas vehicles! But it is the The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) that operates the world’s largest fleet of CNG buses. With the way Ahmedabad is booming beyond its seam and its excitement with the new fuel, AMTS might soon give DTC good company.

CNG, without doubt, is a clean-burning fuel. No carbon or acid goes into oil and no liquid fuel is required to wash oil from top piston ring. In addition, it is much more fuel efficient in comparison to gasoline. Because of the clean-burning fuel, it increases the longevity of the vehicle and maintenance intervals are increased. Sparkplugs seem to last forever and oil is still yellow when you change it.

Natural Gas is lighter than air. This means that it will not puddle (like gasoline) or sink to the ground like propane, which is heavier than air. Instead, Natural Gas will rise and dissipate in the atmosphere.

Natural gas also has a higher ignition temperature. This means that it is much harder to ignite. Also the storage systems used for compressed natural gas are infinitely stronger that the gasoline tanks found on cars and trucks today.

The equipment required for CNG to be delivered to an Otto-cycle engine includes a pressure regulator (a device that converts the natural gas from storage pressure to metering pressure) and a gas mixer or gas injectors (fuel metering devices). Earlier-generation CNG conversion kits featured venturi-type gas mixers.

There are many benefits of using CNG:

1. Environment friendly – CNG considerably reduces vehicular emissions. CNG run vehicles have emissions lower than petrol run vehicles and significantly lower than diesel run vehicles.
2. Economical – It reduces running costs of the vehicle, thereby lightening economic burden of an average Indian customer’s already stretched pockets. CNG can save upto 60% on fuel cost.
3. Corporate organisations and firms can claim 100% depreciation for CNG conversion kits as pollution control equipment.
4. It also reduces the burden on the National Exchequer, since CNG is available in plenty in India, unlike petrol or diesel which need to be imported, resulting in the outflow of valuable foreign exchange.

[Benefits list courtesy: Maruti Udyog Ltd.]

Natural Gas is lighter than air. This means that it does not puddle (like gasoline) or sink to the ground like propane, which is heavier than air. Instead, Natural Gas rises and dissipates in the atmosphere.

But that’s just about as far as it goes in making Ahmedabad a better place. It makes it clean to a reasonable extent, but the city still has to put its best forward to make itself green.

We propose a future where roads carry vehicles running on CNG, while being dotted on either side by trees. Visualise that for every road of Ahmedabad and you’ll fall in love with life.

As students of botany and environment would tell us, the task in itself is not such an impossible one. For starters, species like Gulmohar are easy to grow, low on maintenance and grow well even in Ahmedabad’s arid climate. And the whole process does not cost much. The real challenge, as everywhere, is not as much about growing up as it is about maintenance. And that is one arena where no idea can succeed unless there is a public-private partnership. Where the authorities provide the infrastructure and materials and public provides service to the plants. If every family adopts five plants each, the city can replicate the white revolution that AMUL had so magnificently given rise to. There, simpleton villagers were the key players. We’ve got our education & awareness to add on to that.

Every destination in Delhi not only used to be very ‘duur’, it used to be one big ‘durd’ to reach destinations. The world has not turned upside down, but things look much brighter and safer now with the arrival of Delhi Metro.

2010 is the year for Delhi to host Commonwealth Games. And apart from facilities like athletes’ village and stadium infrastructure, what might help the city get it right would be a public sector spectacle called Delhi Metro.

The Delhi Metro was opened on December 24, 2002. It is the second underground rapid transit system in India, after the one in operation in Kolkata. But unlike the Calcutta Metro, the Delhi Metro has a combination of elevated, ground level and underground tracks.

From widespread cynicism at the beginning of the project to lack of education amongst early commuters, everything seemed to be loaded against the project. Not to mention that fact that a public body has not had a successful project of such magnificent nature since long. But the team of Dr. E. Sreedharan, the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) has managed to have eggs on all the nay-sayers. Today, the Delhi metro is a benchmark for all public-private participation programs in India.

The real beauty lies not just in the aesthetics of the trains or stations, but in the many facets of its being. The most heart-warming change that it has brought is offering safety of a Mumbai or Ahmedabad to lady commuters of the city. It is by far the safest mode of commuting for thousands of women who need to use public transport every day in Delhi. It gives respite from the rowdy blue-line bus-walahs and meter-allergic auto drivers. Furthermore, it has not only significantly cut down the commuting hours but also made commuting very relaxing. Kids and young couples actually look forward to reaching the metro stations and have a fun ride.

It is a win-win scenario for everyone involved – right from the government to the common man. A’bad-G’nagar metro, come soon!

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Delhi Metro at a Glance

• Each train consists of four coaches and can carry up to 240 seated and 300 standing passengers
• The trains operate at intervals of three to five minutes between 6am to 10pm
• Trains generally run at speeds below 80 km/h, or 50 mph
• Trains stop for an average of 20 seconds at each MRTS station
• All coaches are air-conditioned
• All metro stations and trains have their own specially trained Metro police
• Each station has been designed with a unique scheme, with local students of arts colleges contributing towards designing of decorative murals etc.

First things first: League magazine, on behalf of the whole of Ahmedabad, congratulates The Gujarat Institute of Housing & Estate Developers (GIHED) on embarking on a project as inspiring as ‘Brand Ahmedabad: Target 2020’. All the personalities, from varied faculties,  associated with the project give hope to the initiative being a sustained movement, and not a one-off event.

It is initiatives like these that inspire the locals and make people elsewhere curious. Now it remains to be seen how far and fast things move. Here’s wishing everyone associated with the project a huge success.

Heartbreakingly enough, history has showed that such efforts aimed at improving upon both the infrastructure and the image of a city basically works  only with the sections that either choose to or have to interact with the place of action – in this case Ahmedabad. For the rest of the world, all the marketing exercises of an inspired civic group of a city remain just that, marketing exercise by an inspired civic group.

Have you heard of a place named Sao Carlos? No, it is not a typo; it should not have been Sao Paulo. Well, Sao Carlos is one of the better cities of this world. This Brazilian town has cobbled, one-way streets across most of it; has fantastic weather; lovely, friendly people; all the functional and technological supplies for a comfortable life; low crime rate and a life standard comparable to the best of western Europe. Ahmedabad, with due regret and respect – whichever applicable – has decades to go before it can reach anywhere near that.

Fortunately, for good or otherwise, more people in this world (outside the respective countries) would have heard of Ahmedabad than Sao Carlos. Why? Simply because the Brazilian city too hasn’t had a reason to turn the world’s eyes towards it. Add to that the fact that Ahmedabad has got more to it than a mere semblance of perfection! Historians, architects, social scientists, scientists, marketing professionals and artists all have a stake in our city.

Tianamen Square has long been a symbol of China’s authoritarian polity. But come 2008 and it would be a showcase place for the economic giant. Don’t be surprised if the burying ground of many young dreams doubles up as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for young athletes from across the globe. Time to take a leaf out of it?

So what’s the point? The point is a pretty linear one. All those flyovers, tree-plantations, clean air and better transportation that we are talking big of, may not catapult Ahmedabad into big-ticket league of cities like NY or London – even if our quality of life becomes at par with the two. There are many cities across the globe, like Vancouver, with better quality of life than the two mentioned anyway.

As an extension of the thought, it would be pertinent to add here that authorities in Mumbai often talk of converting their city into Shanghai – that one city that has catapulted itself into the A-league cities by the sheer weight of its ‘shock & awe’-ish infrastructure. However, because of the various socio-politico-economic and cultural constraints, India probably will never have that kind of infrastructure. Hence, in all probability, Mumbai has chosen a faulty destination. It should actually have chosen another Chinese city; for a different reason at that. The city is Beijing and the reason is the 2008 Summer Olympics. The authoritarian Chinese government is using the world’s biggest event to not only spruce up its infrastructure but also to instill a sense of pride amongst the Chinese and an improved image of the country in the rest of the world.

And that’s what Ahmedabad should be aiming at. Someone at the GIHED event had mentioned of the city being ready to host Asian Games in a couple of years (the reason behind the spunk in the voice is the soon-to-be-built mega sports complex near Khokhra). A single block of civilisation cannot be trusted to offer that kind of ability; but the thought is finally moving in the right direction. Beginning with Asian Games and eventually leading up to Olympics, some day, should be the aim. And if we all begin now, there is no reason why we can’t realise the dream. Then, Ahmedabad would need no other brand event.