We are breathing a cocktail of crop-burning smoke, construction dust, vehicular pollution
Yet again it is that time of the year in Delhi when life comes a wheezing, coughing, breathless stop. Air pollution levels were officially flagged as extremely hazardous in the Capital on Tuesday with PM2.5 readings at 452 per cubic meter, which is more than seven times the national safe limit of 60 (the permissible range of PM2.5 internationally is 25, just to put this public health crisis into perspective) though anyone who was up early would have seen, felt and breathed the pollutant-laden smog without recourse to official figures. The wind direction, from the West, and speed, which fell below 10 kilometers per hour, brought the pollutants in the air due to crop-residue burning in Haryana and Punjab home to Delhi as usual. The Chief Minister was reported to have described Delhi as a “gas chamber” and asserted that crop burning in the adjoining States had to be curbed. As should, we may add, the enforcement of rules regarding construction activities in the National Capital Region, norms regarding vehicles and the sweeping of roadside dust. But there is a massive difference in what ought to be done and what is being done. Meanwhile, the silent killer which is the air we breathe has resulted in an ongoing public health crisis with children and senior citizens particularly vulnerable to respiratory and cardiovascular episodes.
Perhaps citizens too have become accustomed to this as air laden with smog post-Diwali, which has become an annual affair. The most tragic part is that as Delhi chokes, our chattering classes are on social media applauding the ban on the sale of firecrackers in the run-up to Diwali which account for negligible air pollution and that too for an evening or two, but has no idea on how to deal with the systemic issues that plague the Capital. The odd-even scheme and the call to shut down schools are but temporary palliatives. And while measures such as quadrupling parking fees, slashing off-peak Metro fares while introducing more coaches and more frequent services as part of the graded response action plan announced by the Supreme Court mandated EPCA are welcome, unless they become the new normal we will fail to strike at the root of what the Indian Medical Association has declared a “health emergency”. Taking on the politically influential farming community of Haryana and Punjab, hard enforcement of vehicular emission norms and a clear policy direction for the automobile industry which can then plan for the next 20 years while the government builds the infrastructure required, and dealing with rampant illegal construction sites across the NCR with a no-compromise attitude will cause disruption and inconvenience but our choices have run out. Maybe then, if a start is made on these issues, we can breathe to fight another day.