Delhi’s air liKely To worsen

‘Rise in vehicular pollution and crop buring during Diwali period main culprits’.

The Delhi Pradesh Congress, which is currently headless following Ajay Maken’s resignation in September this year, is likely to get its new chief by January next year to lead the party into the Lok Sabha elections, as well as the Delhi Assembly elections due in January 2020, according to highly placed party sources in the Congress.

Sources in the national Congress also said that the search for a new party chief for Delhi is on, but the announcement could take some time since the senior leadership of the party is busy with elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

On the condition of anonymity, a senior Congress functionary told this correspondent: “The entire party senior leadership is busy with elections in these three states; therefore, it could take some time for any announcement to come in. Once the elections are over, it is likely that the new party president for Delhi would be announced.”

“It is imperative for the party to decide on a candidate by January next year as Delhi is going to face Assembly elections sometime in January 2020 and it will take at least a year for the new party chief to get things in order for the party and start campaigning to bounce back. The party had seen a complete washout in Delhi during the 2015 elections,” the senior Congress leader added.

A section of party workers in Delhi wants Arvinder Singh Lovely as the PCC chief in Delhi. These party workers feel that Lovely has experience of Delhi as he was also a Cabinet minister in the Sheila Dikshit government and had been the PCC chief during the 2015 elections.

However, another section of party workers does not want Lovely to be their leader as he had switched over to the BJP in April 2017. This section has questioned Lovely’s loyalty towards the party.

A Delhi Congress worker said, “Arvinder Singh lovely is not a choice for Delhi Congress chief. He has no loyalty towards the party. When the party was in trouble, he switched over for greener pastures; we do not want anybody like that to lead us.”

According to party sources, veteran Congress leader Mahabal Mishra is one of the frontrunners for the post owing to his Purvanchali background. At least 30-40 lakh of 2.5 crore of Delhi’s total population are Purvanchalis and they impact quite a significant number of seats in Delhi.

The BJP had also appointed Manoj Tiwari, who belongs from the Purvanchal region, as the Delhi party chief in 2016. The Aam Aadmi Party has some 11 legislators from Purvanchal and AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh is also a Purvanchali.

However, Mahabal Mishra told The Sunday Guardian, “It is up to the party high command to decide who would be Delhi PCC president. As of now, we do not have any knowledge of who could be the president.”

Other names that are doing the rounds include that party spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of veteran Congress leader and former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

Sources in the party have said that she is another frontrunner for the post since she has made a base in Delhi and is also one of the most known faces of the Congress in Delhi in recent times. Also, as she is a Bengali and with Delhi having a huge Bengali population, she could be made the PCC chief.

Sandeep Dikshit, son of former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit, has also surfaced for the post of PCC chief. However, Sandeep Dikshit has denied any such claims. Speaking to this newspaper, he said, “I do not have any idea about the post of PCC chief in Delhi. I have not been in touch with the Delhi Congress for the last four years.”

Ajay Maken had resigned from the post of Delhi PCC president in September this year owing to health reasons and he had been travelling abroad for treatment. He had also said that he would not be able to lead the party due to health reasons.

Maken had been one of the strongest opponents of an alliance with the AAP in Delhi and had on several occasions expressed his displeasure on any kind of understanding with the AAP.

The central leadership in the Congress is, however, keen on an alliance with the AAP in Delhi and Haryana.

However, according to many party workers in Delhi, Maken had lifted the party from the shambles it was reduced to after the humiliating poll debacle in 2015 and the party was getting a fresh lease of life under his leadership.

A Congress worker from Delhi told this correspondent, “Just when the party was picking up pace to fight the AAP and BJP in Delhi and the organisation was re-gaining its strength under Maken’s leadership, he fell ill. Now, once again, the party and its workers are jittery as to who would lead them in the 2019 LS polls.”

Delhi’s air quality is likely to worsen further as air pollution increases due to vehicular pollution, crop burning and the approaching western disturbances around the national capital region ( NCR) during the Diwali period.

Like every year, pollution levels have once again spiked, with air quality levels reducing from very poor to unhealthy levels across all parts of the NCR.

According to a new study released by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), 28% of the total pollution levels in Delhi are contributed by vehicles in Delhi, while crop burning contributes to only 4% of the total pollution levels in Delhi-NCR. Even after 13 years of the Supreme Court’s order for mandatory compositionbased comprehensive monitoring of firecrackers, the authorities have hardly taken any action, say experts.

According to experts, in 2005, the Supreme Court had directed the Department of Explosives of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), the licensing arm of the Central government, to set up guidelines for chemical composition-based monitoring of manufacture of firecrackers. However, the authorities concerned have set up guidelines for

Private cars contribute about 3% of the total PM (particulate matter) 2.5 pollutants, while two wheelers contribute about 7% of the total PM 2.5 pollutants. Heavy vehicles, including tractors and trucks, contribute about 9% and three wheelers and buses about 5% and 3% respectively to the PM 2.5 polluting matters into the air.

According to data from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 40% of the total pollution is contributed by vehicles plying in the DelhiNCR region.

The TERI research has also said that crop burning, which lasts for about 15-20 days during this period, contributes to just 4% of the total pollution in DelhiNCR on an average.

R. Suresh, fellow and convenor of TERI, told The Sunday Guardian, “We need to implement cleaner fuels like BS IV on an urgent basis to tackle this pollution menace in Delhi. We also need to shift to electric vehicles and improve our public transport system so that people have faith in leaving their cars back home and travel safe and hassle free to and from work daily. Congestion is another major problem which causes a lot of pollution; we need to reduce congestion on Delhi roads for better pollution management.”

Environmentalists have also raised concerns about vehicular pollution in Delhi. Delhi has more than one crore cars registered and over one- and- a-half crore vehicles plying on Delhi roads. They have also raised fears of more congestion and vehicular pollution during this period of festivity when people in Delhi swarm the streets on their vehicles to visit their loved ones.

Some have also argued about stopping of registration of all private vehicles in Delhi for the next one or two years to curtail the explosion of number of cars in Delhi. Others have said that with no adequate public transport facility available in the Delhi-NCR region, it would become impossible commuting in Delhi.

Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment, told The Sunday Guardian, “We know that vehicular pollution has increased the maximum in Delhi since 2010 and it contributes to about 40% of the total pollution levels in Delhi, which is close to half of all polluting matters in Delhi. How can we not touch them (cars)? We will have to have a policy to restrict the usage of cars during an emergency. For the long term, we need to ensure that a parking policy is put in place. The draft on parking policy is ready, but it is not being notified due to the fear of car owners. Why should those who park cars illegally not be prosecuted? Why should one not pay for parking vehicles in public places, be it even outside their houses?”

Environmentalist Anil Sood also questioned about the rising pollution levels at Dwarka, which is considered among one of the most planned sub cities of DelhiNCR, with most residential colonies having a huge green cover in the area.

According to Sood, in the last seven days, the air quality in Dwarka has remained severe to very poor. He has blamed the airport nearby and the flying of aircraft for the increasing pollution levels in this region.

“Aircraft engines produce emissions that are similar to other emissions resulting from fossil fuel combustion. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) is refined kerosene oil. It is made from middle distillate of crude. ATF gives more ash than petrol. On the ground before leaving the airport and during the taxiway to the runway, an aircraft consumes around 300 litres of ATF. Due to traffic congestion both in the morning and evening, the aircraft engine runs idle for some time waiting for its turn, thereby increasing the quantity of ATF consumed. For one traffic movement from taxi to takeoff and leaving the Dwarka air space, one flight consumes about 1,000 litres of air fuel. This is hazardous,” Sood said.