In recent times more emphasis is given to control air quality after observing the intense fog and smoke in New Delhi and its vicinity, which is a wake-up call to improve the quality of air we breathe.
Deforestation is going at a high speed in many parts across the nation. In Haryana and Punjab, 12 to 20 million tonnes of paddy straw is burnt after harvest is over. The problem is compounded by this activity as it adds more pollution to the already polluted air and until the wind picks up its speed, the smog remains in the air.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has also showed much concern over the pollution in Delhi and other places. Not long ago, when this writer was traveling together with family members on NH-8 from Jaipur towards New Delhi, all of us encountered the smog menace. We felt it was highly necessary to take preventive measures. It was clear that pollution and smog was the precise cause of multiple fatal accidents on the road. We saw a few vehicles having turned turtle and a large number of vehicles stranded for long due to visibility problem. Eventually, it took many extra hours to reach Delhi.
Nature’s potential as well as restorative power is exhausting gradually. Clearly apart from carbon monoxide, lead and sulfur dioxide, suspended particulate matter, levels of ozone, oxides of nitrogen and green house emission in the air have an adverse effect on the growth of a nation.
The particulate matter level with ten micrometers or less (PM10) has been in rising trend in these years which is conspicuously seen in more than hundreds of cities across India. PM10 is the combination of all solid and liquid particles suspended in the air, like dust, smoke and liquid droplet etc. These are hazardous to health when they penetrate and lodge deep inside the lungs. This results in lung cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The air quality in our country is monitored by Pollution Control Boards as well as National Environmental Engineering Research Institute at various locations in different cities where they have tightened the vehicular emission standards and industry emission standards as part of some measures to control air pollution. But this is not enough as the MoEF is yet to set up 24*7 real time air quality monitoring stations across India in order to help State authorities to prepare air quality plans.
The plan with fastidious details to control the emissions should be comprehensive and apply to power stations, oil refineries, industries, sources of waste burnings and vehicular emissions etc on priority basis. Seeing that air pollution levels of New Delhi has surpassed to that of Beijing, a proposal was mooted that cars with odd-number registered plates would ply on odd dates and those with even-number registered plates would ply on even dates. And, this was well executed at once on Delhi roads as part of precise measures to reduce vehicular emissions.
The impact of long term exposure to moderate concentrations on public health is larger than short term exposure to peak concentrations. Nonetheless, numerous deaths on respiratory related diseases have been attributed to short term exposure to peak levels. A few months ago, unrestricted flow of fly ash along with lime along side of Salipur-Kendrapada road in the vicinity of fly ash brick units was rampant. However, as it invited action from the State Pollution Control Board, guard wall with proper drainage was constructed by the proprietors.
Exposure to radiation is responsible for skin cancer and stunting of plant growth. Greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases which trap heat in the atmosphere. For every greenhouse gas, a Global Warming Potential (GWP) has been calculated. Gases with higher GWP absorb more energy than gases with lower GWP and contribute more to warming of earth. The hole in the ozone layer in the earth’s upper atmosphere reduces the greenhouse effect as ozone is a greenhouse gas. Similarly, acid rain which possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide to produce acid. With fast depletion of green cover and rising high rises in concrete structure, the possibility of acid rain cannot be ruled out as fossil fuels in thermal power plants and automobiles are prime cause to acid deposition.
Alike outdoor air, indoor air too carries a variety mixtures of pollutants like chemical substances, allergens and microbes from various sources that changes with time. Not only cigarette but also more in number of tobacco smoke contains more harmful pollutants which includes benzene and fine and ultra fine particles. Passive smoking is too hazardous as it can cause irritation, coronary heart diseases and aggravated respiratory systems. Elderly people children and pregnant women are more potentially vulnerable to indoor air pollution.
Although some indoor air pollutants come from outside, most are released inside the building due to burning fuel for cooking and heating.
Power plants should buy paddy stubble to use as fuel and farmers of States like Punjab and Haryana etc should be sensitized for conservative farming systems. Indoor plants in houses as aloe vera, weeping fig, snake plant, English ivy, Chinese evergreen, bamboo plant and green spider plant, etc may be kept which help fight the smog. However, more comprehensive efforts are needed to reduce air pollution with generating greater awareness among our people.
(Er Rout is a freelance writer)