Delhi continues to be on the verge
Monday - November 4, 2019 11:16 am ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
WTN- Post Diwali, Delhi again turned into a gas chamber with its pollution levels rising to about 10 times from normal in just six hours. At 1,005, this was the worst recorded Air Quality Index in the national capital since February this year. An AQI between 0-100 is considered to be in the ‘good+satisfactory’ bracket, and 101-200 is termed as ‘moderate’, while AQI between 201-300, 301-400, and 401-500 falls in the ‘poor’, ‘very poor’, and ‘severe’ category, respectively.
Anything above 500 is ‘severe-plus emergency’ category. It is pertinent to mention that 15 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India, with all the northern cities around Delhi - Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida and Bhiwadi – in the top six, according to a new study.
The national capital region (NCR) emerged as the most polluted region in the world last year. Industries, households, cars, and trucks emit complex mixtures of air pollutants, many of which are harmful to health. Of all of these pollutants, fine particulate matter has the greatest effect on human health. Most fine particulate matter comes from fuel combustion, both from mobile sources such as vehicles and from stationary sources such as power plants, industry, households, agriculture or biomass burning. If we want India to breathe clean air, it is high time that our plans such as National Clean Air Programme, Graded Response Action Plan, Clean Air Programme became much more stringent, aggressive, legally binding and implementable at ground rather than just being political statements.
Delhi will remain the most polluted unless we make a concerted effort on a war footing from the top down to clean the air. What we need is a Clean Air Czar - an empowered, accountable authority whose single goal is to reduce pollution in our country through measurable and time-bound actions. This is a national public health emergency and we cannot afford small, incremental progress. We need strong, focussed action that befits a real emergency. Just because health issues do not historically convert to votes, politicians have ignored this public health emergency and compromised citizens’ lives. It is high time the government promoted eco-friendly industries and construction solutions as well as hastened the usage of better fuels for automobiles.
The pollution control boards are toothless and ill-equipped. NGT injunctions are hardly followed in letter and spirit as litigations and counter litigations continue to drag on till the damage is done. The governments have taken an unserious stance for decades and now things are fast spiraling out of control. Concrete steps that can usher in large scale changes that really impact environment are still a distance away. The industrialists’ lobby is strong and they manage to extract favourable awards from the government for personal gains.
This is often in violation of environment norms and above public health concerns. It is true the present dispensation is trying hard to reverse the trend and promote clean fuel and green energy wherever possible but the damage has been long done and it will take quite a few decades, if at all, to have a permissible air quality in our cities. And it is not just about clean fuel and green energy; it is also about the number of saplings we plant and the trees we chop, it is also about the operation of industries and the activities of the realty and construction sector.
All of these have to be taken stock of and tweaked accordingly for better alignment with our environment needs. Many of these activities are highly unregulated in our system with little monitoring and sustained course correction process. Today if Delhi is a gas chamber, in very near future cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Lucknow are going to be the same because they have the same condiments as Delhi to vitiate the environment and most cities have no contingency plan in place to ward them off. If we don’t act tough and act now, we are in for a very deep trouble in the next decade.
No matter which government comes to power, if it does not prioritise clean air and healthy living of its billions of people, it will commit an unpardonable sin. - Window To News
Anything above 500 is ‘severe-plus emergency’ category. It is pertinent to mention that 15 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India, with all the northern cities around Delhi - Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida and Bhiwadi – in the top six, according to a new study.
The national capital region (NCR) emerged as the most polluted region in the world last year. Industries, households, cars, and trucks emit complex mixtures of air pollutants, many of which are harmful to health. Of all of these pollutants, fine particulate matter has the greatest effect on human health. Most fine particulate matter comes from fuel combustion, both from mobile sources such as vehicles and from stationary sources such as power plants, industry, households, agriculture or biomass burning. If we want India to breathe clean air, it is high time that our plans such as National Clean Air Programme, Graded Response Action Plan, Clean Air Programme became much more stringent, aggressive, legally binding and implementable at ground rather than just being political statements.
Delhi will remain the most polluted unless we make a concerted effort on a war footing from the top down to clean the air. What we need is a Clean Air Czar - an empowered, accountable authority whose single goal is to reduce pollution in our country through measurable and time-bound actions. This is a national public health emergency and we cannot afford small, incremental progress. We need strong, focussed action that befits a real emergency. Just because health issues do not historically convert to votes, politicians have ignored this public health emergency and compromised citizens’ lives. It is high time the government promoted eco-friendly industries and construction solutions as well as hastened the usage of better fuels for automobiles.
The pollution control boards are toothless and ill-equipped. NGT injunctions are hardly followed in letter and spirit as litigations and counter litigations continue to drag on till the damage is done. The governments have taken an unserious stance for decades and now things are fast spiraling out of control. Concrete steps that can usher in large scale changes that really impact environment are still a distance away. The industrialists’ lobby is strong and they manage to extract favourable awards from the government for personal gains.
This is often in violation of environment norms and above public health concerns. It is true the present dispensation is trying hard to reverse the trend and promote clean fuel and green energy wherever possible but the damage has been long done and it will take quite a few decades, if at all, to have a permissible air quality in our cities. And it is not just about clean fuel and green energy; it is also about the number of saplings we plant and the trees we chop, it is also about the operation of industries and the activities of the realty and construction sector.
All of these have to be taken stock of and tweaked accordingly for better alignment with our environment needs. Many of these activities are highly unregulated in our system with little monitoring and sustained course correction process. Today if Delhi is a gas chamber, in very near future cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Lucknow are going to be the same because they have the same condiments as Delhi to vitiate the environment and most cities have no contingency plan in place to ward them off. If we don’t act tough and act now, we are in for a very deep trouble in the next decade.
No matter which government comes to power, if it does not prioritise clean air and healthy living of its billions of people, it will commit an unpardonable sin. - Window To News
