How is that? The choke is on us
Masks can’t hide the fact that Delhi has done little about its air
It’s like trying to bowl in a gas chamber. The National Green Tribunal has slammed the organisers for holding the final Test match between India and Sri Lanka at Delhi’s Ferozshah Kotla amid hazardous air quality. It has reason to be upset. In a first-ever incident of its kind in the 140-year-history of the game, an international cricket team wore anti-pollution masks while fielding and had to be persuaded to play on.
But it isn’t the first time questions have been raised over the fitness of Delhi’s air for athletes. In November 2016, two Ranji Trophy matches slated to be played in Delhi – Gujarat against Bengal and Hyderabad versus Tripura – were called off. On Sunday, Javier Ceppi, tournament director of the FIFA U17 World Cup, said athletes’ health was being compromised. “You can’t host sport events in Delhi from Diwali till end of Feb, at least...others should also think about athletes’ health first #Delhismog,” he tweeted. Sporting activity leads to inhalation of greater volumes of fine pollutants of PM 10 and PM 2.5 that can lead to chronic obstructive lung disease, emphysema even cancer. Our credibility as a sporting venue is dented. With an air quality index (AQI) measure of 368 on Sunday – deemed ‘very poor’ – such incidents are likely to hit India’s dreams of hosting big-ticket events such as the Olympics and the football World Cup. It is unlikely the International Olympic Committee or FIFA will imperil the health of athletes from around the world.
More people die of pollution in India than anywhere else in the world. What makes the Board of Control for Cricket in India think it can get away with exposing players and spectators to noxious pollution? What is the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the national capital region doing? Whatever happened to the much vaunted Graded Response Action Plan? The Centre and the AAP government seem to be playing pass the buck. For the sake of the city, every stakeholder — whether it is the State, residents and non-profits — need to adopt cleaner practices and display the political will to take on pollution. We can’t continue to choke our way through as usual.