An unprecedented environmental disaster has gripped the Indian capital. New Delhi and its adjoining areas are facing the
worst spell of smog in nearly two decades. Several issues are exacerbating the problem to deadly levels. Farmers who harvested crops in states neighbouring the capital are burning their stubbles, sending smoke into the air. Pollution from vehicles and construction projects are making things worse. Masks, once worn by tourists coming from world over, are now a common sight, being worn by one and all on the streets of the capital.
Dangerous PM 2.5 particles, which are small enough to enter people’s bloodstreams, peaked at 742 microgrammes per cubic meter. The World Health Organization’s safe limit for the particles is 60. As recently as last week, the smog was 10 times worse than that recorded in Beijing. Some parts of New Delhi have pollution 40 times the WHO-recommended safe level.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently described the city as a “gas chamber”, and the government introduced several emergency measures, including shutting down a coal-fired power plant and polluting brick kilns, and introducing the controversial “odd-even” programme, in which cars can be driven only on alternating days of the week depending on
their licence plate numbers in an effort to curb traffic. It was also mulling a plan to spray water over its capital to combat the toxic smog.
A major study published last month in the Lancet, a British medical journal, found that pollution was responsible for more
yearly deaths than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. The problem is affecting every country on the planet. The Lancet also estimated that some 2.5 million Indians die each year from pollution.
Air pollution can be checked. Measures such as banning fireworks at all social events and environment-friendly initiatives like using CNG engines for public transport and phasing out old commercial vehicles can, to a certain extent, address the problem. More research on the root cause of the problem need to be undertaken.
With the air quality in the capital and adjoining cities consistently deteriorating and with unabated stubble burning in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and even parts of Delhi, authorities need to come out with concrete steps and appropriate measures to tackle the air pollution crisis created by the smog.
