A singular approach

Pollution-control plans must be coordinated across north India

The administration of Delhi has been admirably proactive in invoking the first stage of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP I) as soon as the air-quality index (AQI) in the city jumped from 179 to 244 (“poor”) in a day. The first of a four-stage response linked to the AQI levels bans coal and wood burning (including tandoors used in restaurants and open eateries) and the use of diesel-generator sets except in some circumstances. This comes just under a week ahead of Delhi’s winter-pollution action plan, which restricts petrol pumps from dispensing fuel to vehicles without valid pollution-control certificates, bans outside vehicles that do not conform to Bharat-VI emission standards, introduces a 50 per cent work-from-home mandate, doubles parking fees to discourage the use of personal vehicles, and restricts construction. These norms will be in place till the end of February. This early response is a well-meaning attempt to control winter pollution, for which the city has earned a global reputation. However, its efficacy is still to be tested, given the onset of the paddy stubble-burning season, the precipitous drop in wind speed, the monitoring abilities of the Delhi government, and the Diwali fireworks onslaught, which has, inexplicably, not been banned. 

But these are only some of the challenges in ensuring that the citizens of Delhi enjoy clean air this coming winter. To work, they need a far wider ambit of enforcement, which is beyond the remit of the Delhi government. Delhi is situated within a wider bustling urban agglomeration termed the National Capital Region, comprising districts in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Most cities in these states account for the bulk of the urban pollution in India. For Delhi’s winter pollution- control action plan to work, it needs administrations in these areas to introduce reciprocal plans. Beyond the standard restrictions on old vehicles and construction — which have not proved noticeably effective these past winters — there is no evidence of synchronicity in planning. The National Capital Region Planning Board, which comes under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, could play a useful role in coordinating pollution-control plans. 

But this, too, will partially address the problem. The latest data for the AQI ranking shows that Delhi is not one of the 13 Indian cities listed among the top 20 most polluted ones in the world. That distinction goes to Bulandshahr, Pali, Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Rohtak, Kota, Hapur, Bikaner, Bareilly and Hisar. Only Mumbai, Agartala, and Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh) fall outside the northern Gangetic belt. Several of these urban polluters lie close to the stubble-burning zones. No northern city is immune to the dense smoke from fires that farmers routinely set to clear their fields ahead of the rabi season. So far, the governments of Haryana and Punjab — ground zero of stubble-burning — have yet to offer viable solutions to a problem that clearly demands intervention from the central government, as it is the result of long-term central agricultural policies. The bottom line, therefore, is that without a coordinated action plan that involves North Indian urban administrations as well as the rural districts, citywise pollution-action plans will prove largely ineffective. For the Union government, getting its act together is no longer a question of politics but of addressing a burgeoning public-health crisis.