Severe policy lapse

Pollution control needs a holistic approach

The recurring menace of winter pollution in Delhi and its adjoining areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) continues to exacerbate, defying all bids to contain it. The situation has been particularly bad this year with the air quality index (AQI) hovering mostly between the “very poor” and “severe” to “severe plus” categories ever since the advent of winter, making it hard for people to breathe. Revamping the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the NCR, and the launching of a special 15-point anti-pollution campaign by the Delhi government has been of little avail. The level of the most hazardous particulate matter, PM2.5 in the air, has been reckoned, on average, at around 105 micro grams per cubic metre during October this year, against 74.88 micro grams in the same month last year. What is worse, this has happened despite an early enforcement of the GRAP and the claims of its better enforcement by the Delhi administration.

Admittedly, the beginning of winter is the time when farmers harvest paddy and burn the crop residues to clear the fields for sowing the next crops, thereby spewing huge amounts of smoke to sully the air in the entire north-western region. But that alone cannot be held responsible for the NCR’s unceasing pollution. The stubble burning lasts only for a short while in October-November. The real culprits are the pollutants generated locally round the year. They turn more pernicious around this time of the season because of climatic factors like the temperature dropping and the wind speed slowing, which, instead of dissipating the pollutants, make them hang in the air near the surface in the form of smog. This has been borne out by a study conducted between October 21 and 26 this year by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment. It found that the local sources of pollution, especially vehicular emissions, constituted 51 per cent of the PM2.5 content of the air. The contribution of other activities was relatively small, albeit not insignificant — about 11 per cent by industrial units, 13 per cent by household activities, 7 per cent by construction work, 5 per cent by the burning of garbage and other wastes, 4 per cent by road dust, and the rest by other factors.

Unfortunately, while the residents of Delhi and the NCR are gasping for breath, the governments of the states concerned are engaged in blame game, instead of discussing joint strategies to combat this calamity. Clearly, an enduring solution to the problem of pollution does not lie in checking stubble burning alone though that, undoubtedly, is absolutely necessary. Curbing the local sources of pollutants is equally important. Experts suggest that an improvement in the public transport services in the metropolis, with a well-planned integration of metro rail and bus services, and greater use of non-polluting means of travel like electric vehicles, can have a perceptible impact on pollution. The traffic-control system also needs to be spruced up to avoid traffic snarls and jams on the roads, which aggravate air pollution. Manually sweeping roads and burning tree leaves and other wastes should be strictly barred at all times of the year. Unless a holistic approach is adopted to curb all sources of pollution simultaneously, this peril is hard to surmount.