The Bright Sight Amidst COVID
In the first week of September, Delhi recorded its lowest AQI of 41, lowest since 2015, when the Central Pollution Control Board started maintaining air quality records.
How?
Experts attributed this to recent, incessant rainfall, good winds and reduced levels of pollution.
Due to the nationwide lockdown that lasted several months, various travel restrictions were in order, including non-movement of intra- or inter- vehicular movement, as well as majority of the factories were non-operational.
The fact that the pandemic was the reason Delhi was finally able to become “breathable” again cannot be ignored. A REALITY CHECK was required and this pandemic has worked as a catalyst in speeding the process of bettering the AQI of New Delhi.
Statistically, the lockdown helped reduce the Air Pollution in the capital by a whopping 79%, which is a feat that cannot be missed, and should be sustained in the future.
For Delhi to be able to sustain this in the long run, the combined and continued efforts of it’s government and the public would be imperative, in the present as well as post-pandemic situation.
There have been various measures adopted in recent years by the capital’s municipal authorities to tackle air pollution such as subsidizing CNG, restricting vehicle use at specific times, i.e. the odd-even rule, banning the use of polluting industrial fuel, prohibiting the entry of the dirtiest vehicles into the city and closing some power stations.
In 2013, The Centre for Development Economics at Delhi School of Economics published a research paper crediting the DELHI METRO for the reduction in the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). Research found that the level of CO present in the area around ITO fell by at least 35%.
The popularity of the Delhi Metro coupled with measures taken by the municipal government to open two major periphery roads east and west of the Union Territory that diverts trucks away from the capital and introduction of new fuel emissions standards proves that with joint efforts, Delhi can breathe again.
