Who’s in charge of Delhi’s air?

If Delhi has to breathe easy, states have to do much more

Will the person in charge of Delhi’s air please stand up? Right now, it isn’t clear who is in charge. That’s probably because the issue involves three states, including Delhi, which is partly administered by the Centre. It’s probably also because the Centre

ourtake hasn’t got involved in the issue with the sense of purpose and energy that characterises this administration’s involvement . This is worrying because what we are witnessing in Delhi is nothing short of a national emergency. Let’s repeat that for effect: THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY.

Today, November 14, is celebrated as Children’s Day in India; schools in Delhi are closed; but it is a good time for the powers-that-be to think about just what they are exposing the city-state’s children to: The equivalent of 50 cigarettes a day. In India, cigarette packs carry gory images of just what cigarettes do to lungs and throats; maybe it is time to use similar images elsewhere – at busy intersections where the Air Quality Index is literally off the charts; at entry points to the city; at the arrival lounges of airports, even. The message: This is what Delhi could do to you. Who is responsible for this mess? Is the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the National Capital Region a failure? Why hasn’t its Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) delivered? What has the state government been doing for a year? What of the Centre? What’s to stop the creation of a federal agency to tackle the problem?

There are two dimensions to the problem. The first has to do with the difficulties in implementing GRAP. It needs coordination among 16 different agencies in the Delhi-NCR region alone. Experts have said that GRAP can never be fully implemented if Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have no action plans of their own . The second has to do with the lack of preparation. It isn’t as if anyone was taken by surprise. If there ever was a crisis that cried out for the Union government to practice co-operative federalism, one of its favourite terms, it is this.