Hold your breath, the worst is yet to come
Prevalent weather, ‘token’ action plans to blame
ble – those suffering from respiratory and heart diseases and children. The government should aggressively inform all and advise them to stay indoors and avoid outdoor exercises,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment.
In effect, Delhi is facing the same pollution levels that existed in the late 1990s before CNG replaced diesel in public buses. The smog in 1999 would have been mixed with NOx and SO2, though it is worse now with increasing concentration of deadlier particulate matters in the air.
Citizens haven’t heard anything substantial from the governments except hollow promises. Policy interventions are required to combat such emergencies and it is not a difficult guess for anyone on what they should be doing.
There is enough scientific data to suggest that vehicles, whose number has more than tripled in the last five years to 8.9 million, are one of the biggest contributors to toxicity in Delhi’s air. In 1975, vehicles’ con- tribution to the air pollution was just 2.35% and in next 40 years, it rose to about 60%.
In winter, stubble burning and Diwali pollution overtakes vehicular pollution.
The government needs to put a restriction on registration of new vehicles and ensure those older than 10-15 years are moved out. A twin policy intervention of a congestion charge on entering busy commercial hubs and a reliable public transport system as alternative to personal vehicles are also needed to reduce congestion on roads.
The road space in NCR has not kept pace with the vehicle population, resulting in higher congestion on roads and increasing pollutant concentration, especially during winter when poor wind speed slows down dispersal rate.
Delhi needs to develop a green corridor around the city -- which existed before new Gurgaon and Faridabad came up -- to trap dust particles and pollutants coming along with western winds. Zero tolerance for violation of dust management rules at construction sites is also needed.
Air pollution has to be controlled at the local level as each place has specific problems. The cause of high air pollution in Rohini is the Bawana industrial area but RK Puram is trapped between two ring roads having very high vehicular movement.
Similarly, industries in Ghaziabad and the inter-state bus terminus contribute to dangerously high pollution levels in Anand Vihar.
Rise in air pollution in places such as Rohini and Dwarka is recent as till the mid-2000s. Earlier only busy Central and South Delhi areas were high air pollution zones.
Project director, ministry of earth science’s system of air quality weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), Gufran Beig, told HT that Wednesday’s smog was because of a change in wind direction, re-directing smoke from farm fields in Punjab and Haryana to Delhi.
The situation may worsen in coming days as weather experts said the period between mid-October and December is particularly bad as pollutants don’t get sucked into the atmosphere. Diwali was more toxic than the last one as the maximum levels of several gases and particles went up. On Diwali, the PM2.5 levels were 42 times higher than the prescribed 60micrograms per cubic meter.
Nitrogen oxide, PM2.5, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide By mid-October, farmers in Haryana and Punjab start burning their fields after harvest to get rid of the stubble remains. IIT Kanpur’s study shows that 26% of Delhi’s PM2.5 levels in winters come from agriculture stubble and leaf burning in neighbouring states.
Carbon dioxide, PM2.5, mercury Delhi generates almost 4000 tonnes of debris everyday and the sole processing plant can only deal with 10% of it. IIT Kanpur study quoted construction and road dust to be the largest contributor of PM 10 and 2.5 levels.
PM10, soot, sulphate, silicates, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons Delhi has over 8.9 million registered vehicles. Additionally, up to 100,000 trucks enter the city after 10pm. Studies show that the city’s average speed has gone down from 20km/hr to 5km/hr. Experts say lower speeds cause higher emissions.
PM2.5, PM10, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides A study conducted by NASA showed that SO2 emissions in India increased by over 60% from 2005 to 2012. Over half of it came from coal-fired power sector. A Green Peace study showed coal emissions enter Delhi from plants as far as 300kms away.
Arsenic, lead, selenium