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Delhi Pollution makes a Gas chamber

November 17, 2019November 3, 2023 Tietler

Breathing in the दिल्ली CITY is like smoking 50 cigarettes a day.

You can’t live without air for 3 minute.

Arvind Kejriwal announces closure of schools as AQI worsens.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Air pollution is now the third-highest cause of death among all health risks.
Life expectancy in India has gone down by 2.6 years due to deadly diseases caused by air pollution.
As air quality touches emergency levels, children are the worst sufferers and are dealing with illnesses that could have long-term effects.
99% of children born under 5 are exposed to dangerous levels of PM2.5.
Air pollution kills an average of 8.5 out of every 10,000 children in India before they turn 5.
Delhi has earned the unenviable distinction of becoming the most polluted city on Earth this month.

The toxic levels of air pollution in and around Delhi is creating a huge threat to the human as well as natural bodies. Adding to the severity, the changing weather conditions have locked the pollutants in the air and made the situation worse.

Outdoor air pollution kills 3 million people, every year. That’s more than HIV, Malaria, and Influenza combined – yet the inadequate coverage of data says many cities are not even monitored.

It’s despite another year, and the air pollution choking Delhi every winter still continues. Currently, Delhi is the most polluted city in the world. The foggy sky, silent wind, dirty water, and the faded monuments are some of its apparent symptoms, what’s the biggest burden of pollution is its impact on public health.
From toxic air, their eyes are burning, skins are irritating, headache and suffocation are the very basics of daily routine in Delhi nowadays.

Hope to breathe smoothly again in Delhi Pollution?

Pollution holidays are declared in schools. Kids are saying “In Delhi, pollution is a festival. It always comes after Diwali. We get more holidays during this period than Diwali.”

What causes pollution in Delhi?

Delhi, the most polluted city of the world, faces challenges in addressing air pollution, due to inadequate infrastructure, massive urbanization, industrial emissions, vehicular emissions, landfills, open burning, polluting modes of public transports, overpopulation, low investment in public transport and large-scale construction activity, burning of residual crop in neighboring states.

The biggest contributors are dusty winds coming from the Gulf region, road dust, together with the adverse local weather conditions and excess moisture, prevents dissipation of pollutants at the ground level. During the winter season, the prevailing atmospheric inversion is limiting the dispersal of pollutants as the upper-level air is descending to ground level, thus forming a stagnant cloud of trapped pollutants. The particulate discharges in other times of year with convective atmospheric air circulation is able to disperse the pollutants.

Poor air quality may indicate that huge growth in India’s expenditure behavior and so the individual capability has put more automobiles on the streets, and more industries in the city. Sustainable ways to curb air pollution without impacting economic growth is a headache for the Indian government as the load on industries are increasing exponentially day by day. More people in the city for employability in manual factories led to more pressure on the natural resources. This demand finally caused the industrialization. Industry always vomits unwanted gases in the atmosphere. There are loopholes in the mass transit structure in Delhi, which needed to be strengthened to discourage people from using their personal vehicles.

Geography of Delhi Pollution:

Delhi is a non-linear city, so:

Non-linear city structure hinders displacement of Air.
Tough to take solid waste out of the city, causes pollution when burned within the city.
Non-linear city structure means more transport routes, more fuel burning, and more congestion.

Why Government is failed to control Delhi Pollution?

The central, as well as state government, don’t seem to have decisive answers to simple questions like how much polluted is the city, what are the main sources, and where to start to control pollution in the city.

India’s pollution has its roots in politics. Rural farmers and city dwellers are important constituencies for different parties, and neither side wants to make any changes to lose votes. Crop burning is often the cheapest and the fastest way to clear fields. There are many pollution control laws, but enforcement has been unconcerned for fear of losing important voting blocs.

Blaming to the Stubble burning in neighboring states may be inducing everyone’s attention during peak pollution days in the winter season, but it is vehicular emission which is the biggest culprit supported by industrial emission in making Delhi’s air dirty. Both pollute the entire NCR round the year through emitting different kinds of pollutants while biomass burning simply adds to the sorrows during a short period of 15-20 days.

Staggering patterns of rural to urban migration, more people need housing, more people buying vehicles with few pollution controls, and more people making fires in the city to cook and keep warm. More fire means more polluted air. The polluted air means people spend more time indoors, which increases energy demand for lighting and air conditioning, leading to more coal and wood use. More wood cutting, more air polluted creates a feedback loop that exacerbates the whole situation.

Nation Green Tribunal ordered construction to stop for a few days, drawing the ire of construction workers. Many workers are on daily wage, so stopping construction means stopping someone from their Right to liberty of occupation under article 21 of Constitution Right to Life.

AIR ACT 1981 is not enough to control air pollution in the country as:

The act has never considered health as a priority area in framing regulations for combating Air Pollution.
India’s pollution liability regime has never prioritized the adverse impact of pollution on health.
India’s Air Act does not mention or prioritize the importance of reducing the health impact of rising pollution.
Pollution Control Board cannot levy penalties to encash environmental compensations from polluters to fulfill the cost of mitigating the damage that they have caused.
The causes of air pollution are multifold and multiple authorities are involved, so there is no clear legislation to empower someone to take proper action solely.

Making Health a priority in Combating Air Pollution |

Government Initiatives: How do you stop Delhi pollution?

Air pollution in Delhi has become a frequent phenomenon, therefore to mitigate the silent killer, the government needs to curtail the menace by moving beyond short solution to concrete grassroots steps.

Will Delhi ever be pollution-free is the biggest question of our time?

Notification of National Ambient Air Quality Standards and sector-specific emission and effluent standards for industries;
Setting up of monitoring network for assessment of ambient air quality;
Introduction of cleaner gaseous fuels like CNG, LPG, etc and ethanol blending;
Launching of National Air Quality Index (AQI);
Leap from BS-IV to BS-VI standards for vehicles by 1st April 2020;
Banning of burning of biomass;
Promotion of Public Transport Network;
Pollution Under Control Certificate;
Issuance of directions under Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981;
Installation of on-line continuous (24×7) monitoring devices by 17 highly polluting industrial sectors;
Regulating the bursting of pollution-emitting crackers;
Notification of Graded Response Action Plan for Delhi identifying source wise actions for various levels of air pollution.
Odd-Even Scheme for private vehicles.

What more can be done?

As air pollution in Delhi NCR has become a regular phenomenon, therefore to mitigate the silent killer, the government needs to move beyond the cheap vote bank publicity. There needs a time-based interception of government to control pollution:

Stubble Burning:

Crop burning can be countered by Turbo Happy Seeder which is a machine mounted on a tractor that cuts and uproots the stubble by drilling wheat seeds in the soil that have just been cleared up.
Establish Farm Machinery Banks for custom hiring of in-situ crop residue management machinery.
Financial Assistance to the farmers for Procurement of Agriculture Machinery and Equipment.

Public Transport:

The push for public transport has long been highlighted as a potential solution.
The current public transport system in Delhi is disintegrated. We need to integrate it physically ensuring that it is reliable, comfortable and provides last-mile connectivity but without additional cost.
The subsidy given to the personal vehicle users makes personal transport comparatively more affordable than public transport.
Therefore, parking fees, minimal charges for using the roads and cost of congesting the roads must be aligned in the direction to incentivize personal transport.

Municipal Planning:

Open burning of municipal solid waste and industrial waste is fouling up the air.
The need is to build institutional capacity for implementation and enforcement and have the necessary legal back-up for compliance and strong deterrence.

The solution must involve:

A mechanism to compost farm waste through subsidies. Delhi citizens and government could fund composting plants that would collect the farm waste and give green manure as the output.
Use subsidies and laws to force brick kilns all around north India to use cleaner technology. Again, citizens, NGOs and government groups could fund the move the sustainable technology.
Completely ban any kind of waste burning. In parallel, the municipalities must ensure that all wastes are collected and managed.
Providing affordable heating units to the common public – including the watchmen and homeless people. Such waste burning, especially in winter leads the city smoggy.
Move all biofuel burning to LPG with government schemes.
Build more cities across north India to take pressure off Delhi and depopulate the NCR region by around a third. New cities in Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, MP to neutralize the flow of population coming into Delhi.
Build more housing within the city- There should be more people within the city and fewer people in the suburbs. That would reduce the need for commuting, that is to counter urban sprawls. Our cities are flat inside and high outside rather than the other way around.

Make the city walkable and safe. Then make it very expensive to own a car within the city.
To reduce dust, make NCR no-construction zone during winters
Create micro-forest to increase Green space in the city, improving air quality
Improve public transport and encourage its usage.
PCB should be empowered to declare public health emergencies in case of toxic air quality, with the power to temporarily shut down all polluting activities.
The changes might introduce an additional burden on industries to proactively check their emissions, the additional burden is worth the lives that will be saved as a result.

National Disaster Management Authority has issued guidelines to protect against smog and pollution:

Don’t step out or indulge in outdoor activities during early morning and evening hours due to “severe” levels of air pollution in the city.
Try to stay indoors. Go out when it’s bright and sunny.
Avoid stepping out if you have breathing difficulty.
Keep children indoors as much as possible.
Avoid smoking. Do not burn garbage.
Drink adequate amount of water as it helps in flushing toxins from the body.
Avoid strenuous activity, as they may lead to inhalation of minute pollutants.
Eat fruits that are loaded with vitamin C, magnesium and omega fatty acids. These fruits are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds and helps in boosting immunity.
Use nasal filters or air purifiers, which helps in short-term relief.
Keep some air purifying plants inside your homes and offices such as aloe vera an English ivy.
Avoid using main roads. It has been observed that pollution drops when you walk in lanes away from the main roads.
Avoid going to areas with heavy smoke or dust.

SUMMARY :

Appropriate political will and aware citizenry is a prerequisite to tackle the menace.
Greater public transparency is essential to the success of winning the war on air pollution.
There is no better watchdog than active citizens, which is why the pollution targets must be made public every year for their perusal and to be evaluated at the end of the year.
Breathing clean air is a fundamental right of every Indian citizen. Therefore, human health must become a priority when it comes to tackling air pollution.

DON’T BREATHE | HOLD YOUR BREATHE |

What is the current pollution level in Delhi?

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#DelhiAirEmergency #DelhiAirQuality #DelhiAirPollution #DelhiNCRPollution

Chetan Bhagat rightly advised to change the term ‘Delhi pollution’ which has become imprinted in the minds of Indians. It is seen as a major political issue in the state of Delhi, gets huge media coverage and gets the attention of politicians. Since Delhi is a neat compartmentalized political entity, it instantly makes the issue political.

It’s become BJP vs AAP, Odd-Even vs no-Odd-Even, I-care-more-than-you type of issue. It won’t lead us anywhere. Stop calling it a Delhi issue. It is a north Indian issue, even if north India is not one political entity.