Urgent action needed to cut Delhi pollution
▶ Indian capital state has taken steps to improve air quality but people’s health remains at risk
Delhi is a “gas chamber”. So said its chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as a thick smog blanketed India’s second most populous city, leading officials to declare a public health emergency. Delhi has long battled with pollution but it has reached such dangerous levels that when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was photographed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last weekend, the presidential palace was almost invisible behind them. Five million masks have been distributed to children in the capital as air pollution hit the worst levels in three years.
The dangerously high levels of particulate matter in the air have manifested in red eyes, itchy throats, respiratory problems and the pervasive smell of burning, making it difficult for Delhi’s 20 million residents to breathe. Every winter, pollution gets worse as thousands of Diwali firecrackers are set off. The crackers were banned last year but the crackdown needs much stricter enforcement. Another key reason for the smog is the burning of crop stubble on farmlands in north India that causes smoke to drift into Delhi. Humidity and a lack of wind at this time of year causes the smog to stagnate, making it impossible to be outdoors.
It is not normal for children to be unable to go to school or workers to stay away from offices because the air quality is deemed too hazardous, yet this is only likely to happen more frequently as pollution levels escalate. Delhi introduced a temporary car rotation scheme on Monday, the third time it has done so, to limit traffic pollution. However, these steps fall woefully short of being effective.
A stronger approach is needed to deliver clean air. While breathable air should be a birthright for all, not everyone is equally affected. The livelihoods of millions of Delhi dwellers, from traffic police officers to rickshaw-pullers and vegetable vendors, depends on being outdoors. It is impossible for them to heed a well-intentioned but ultimately redundant public advisory warning them to stay indoors. Poor quality air does more harm to the underprivileged who cannot afford face masks, air purifiers or air-conditioned cars. Nor can they afford to simply leave the city, as some more privileged residents do, until the air clears.
Cities such as Beijing, Berlin and Los Angeles have introduced tighter regulations for road users to reduce pollution, although the effect of these measures remains unquantifiable. In Mexico City and Bogota, however, where number plates were monitored in the same way as Delhi, drivers simply gamed the system by buying second cars. This year, India launched its National Clean Air Programme, which aims to reduce particulate pollution by 20 to 30 per cent nationally over the next five years. These are good steps but Delhi residents cannot afford to wait five years for projects to take effect.
The climate change crisis is a worldwide concern, it is not simply India’s problem; the air we breathe affects us all and smog hanging over India could have a catastrophic effect on the global climate. It must be tackled before becoming a crisis that impacts even more communities.