A queer winter day — Insight of Delhi’s Pollution Emergency.

Priyam Shukla
Nov 3 · 7 min read

The stiff congested Priyam extended his dazing hands to turn off the fan switch which was fortunately next to his bed. What was supposed to be rather routine at his native place, Jaipur, turned out to be very different when he woke up 2 hours later. Yawning and stretching, when he opened his eyes, checked his phone, he realised that he had slept well this Saturday night. What caught Priyam’s eye was the equally illuminated world — as it was when he turned off the fan — as he glanced at the state of aurora through his room curtains. Not before he could collect his senses to have a hang of what was going around, he heard some formidable words damply making their way through the walls from the next room which reverberated in his mind for the next few hours. EK HAZAAR. The translation of the word One Thousand in English. Soon everything started falling into place and Priyam instantaneously leaped out of his bed to put on his gas mask, rushing to his balcony.

The smog had rendered the Air Quality Index of Delhi to 1000 which was evident from Priyam’s balcony as, unprecedentedly, he couldn’t see the fruit stall at the end of his street.

The problem of Air Pollution in Delhi has reached such an alarming stage that it is now falling under the category of EMERGENCY.

This chart shows various levels of Air Quality.

The catch about the places where pollution level is 999 is that the level can’t go any further. So the threshold is 999 but the actual levels of the Air Quality Index range beyond 1500 at most places.

The main factors contributing to the pollution (PM 2.5 and PM 10) in the NCR are :-

  1. Stubble burning/Parali by the farmers of Haryana and Punjab — The kharif crops are being cut and by the farmers of these two states and the northwesterly winds flowing in this season are bringing the entire pollution from the stubble burning to the NCR. The worst affected place turns out to be Ghaziabad in this situation because it is receiving collective smoke from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. This factor is contributing 35–45% to Delhi pollution.

2. Construction activities in Delhi — The dust particles originating from construction activities are getting suspended into the air and are trapping pollutants. This factor is contributing 12–20% to Delhi pollution

3. Highly dense traffic at Delhi — With over a crore vehicles in the NCR right now and more than 30 lakh in Daily use, vehicles are responsible for the most contribution to PM 2.5 particles in Delhi. This factor contributes 30–40% to Delhi Pollution.

4. Diwali Crackers — Although the impact of this entity has almost vanished now but this was the most contributing factor to pollution on and on the next day of Diwali to Delhi’s pollution levels. The situation became so worse that the air quality index of almost all the places skyrocketed over 1500. Again, the worst impacted place was Ghaziabad with the AQI of 2500!

5. Industrial activities — The industries, mainly power plants, located on the outskirts of Delhi are the highest contributors to PM 10 pollutants. This factor contributes 20–25% to Delhi pollution (PM 10 and 2.5 averaged)

What should the Government do?

1. Stubble burning/Parali — Since it is the most contributing and direct factor to the pollution, it ought to be resolved with the utmost priority. Stubble burning is altogether banned by the National Green Tribunal but the ban holds no value for the alternativeless. The government had announced ,earlier this year, a central sector scheme on ‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi’. According to the scheme, the government would provide the residue management machinery to farmers on subsidies.The problem with the implementation of this scheme is that the bureaucracy with which, the farmers have to deal with is wasting their time while the pressure of sowing for the next crop is amputing their will for sustainable management of their stubble. In a recent interview to The Hindu, a farmer told that he was willing to do a sustainable waste management considering the expression of concern towards Delhi’s pollution by many but the wastage of time in availing the government scheme’s benefit compelled him to burn his farm, thus contributing yet another nail in the coffin for Capital’s Lungs. Furthermore, the constant fear of government action against the farmers due to media persuasion is compelling them to burn all of their fields altogether, hereby, bringing in a denser wave of smoke into the Capital. The centre had already released 1100 crores to state departments for mitigating the stubble burning but hardly any positive result is observed.

2. Construction activities in Delhi — Fortunately, the government has directed to stop all the construction activities ever since the pollution emergency was declared in Delhi. The government has also made mandatory to conceal the construction sites by dust stopping barriers. A similar factor to this point is the issue of dust particles in air. The inability of the government to pave the unpaved roads has resulted in the free suspension of dust particles in the atmosphere which is trapping a huge chunk of PM 2.5 pollutants.

3. Highly dense traffic at NCR — The most controversial topic as of now is the odd even scheme introduced by the Delhi government. Although the scheme is good for a temporary period of these 10 days of extreme pollution, the spiral of silence for a permanent solution to the proliferating automobiles on the roads of Delhi would create a big problem in the upcoming future. The government should incorporate a more efficient public transport model. Not only should it comprise of a more frequent fleet of buses and metros but also a high ended PR approach which diverts people’s minds towards public transport.

4. Diwali CrackersCouncil for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) gave the guidelines for ‘green crackers’ which the Supreme Court, exclusively, allowed to be burst on Diwali. The firecracker packets were to contain unique QR codes and it was left on the conscience of Delhi population to check it before they buy the crackers. One thing of great importance is that only 6 out of 1000+ factories in Sivakasi have the license of producing these green crackers but the entire Delhi was buying the crackers at the same rate as of any past Diwali. Clearly, the Supreme Court’s directives were grossly violated and the police has to be held accountable for the uncontrolled inflow of these crackers into Delhi while overlooking the already stockpiled illegal firecrackers amongst the vendors. Diwali pollution is unique in itself because there was a sale of conventional firecrackers which released Mercury and Arsenic compounds into the atmosphere. No other form of pollution emits more hazardous waste into the air and the government should impose stricter measures for curbing the sale of the illegal firecrackers.

5. Industrial activities — The government of Delhi has already shut down some power plants in Delhi but the problem of industrial pollution still persists. Although research is still going on for the process of stopping the smoke at the chimney itself, the government is not taking any initiative for the same. It’s only the private players in the efficient waste management development game without much administrative support who are not able to promote the technologies to the industries. This is the need of the hour and it needs to be addressed by the government.

What should we do?

Apart from the conventional ‘save the environment’ ideas, which fall into the deaf ears of the people, we should venture more upon the practical possibilities to save our lives.

The most immediate step is to start wearing gas masks of at least the N95 benchmark.

The next step is to abide by whatever the existing laws might be for curbing the pollution.

The final step is to promote the ideas of environment preservation right from your immediate proximal people no matter how cliché they sound. At the same time, government should be pressurised by whatever means possible.

As Priyam woke up to hunger and started craving for street food, he decided not to cook his breakfast today. The thought was purely natural but deep inside, Priyam knew that the hunger to observe was something which influenced the mood of his taste buds today.

The observation was poles apart from what he would have observed in his native place. Unlike the transitional observation of the natives of Delhi over all these years, who have also transitioned into acceptance for pollution, Priyam’s observation was something which made him restless until he expressed his thoughts.

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