Delhi’s continuing severe air pollution challenge
On Wednesday, the temperature in Delhi dipped below normal for the first time this winter. The onset of the cold weather was accompanied by a deterioration in the city’s air quality. The city’s air quality index (AQI) registered as “severe” for the first time this season — the most delayed arrival of the extreme polluting condition in the past 10 years. That, however, is no respite for the city’s residents. Analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment has shown that while the peak particulate matter (PM) levels have fallen this season, the city’s average pollution has risen. In other words, pollutant concentration remains a cause for worry. The average PM 2.5 levels, this year, are the highest in five years. Also, the fact that Delhi continues to experience bad air way past the crop residue burning season points to an imperative long highlighted by experts — a policy focus beyond a seasonal approach.
In recent years, Delhi’s AAP government has experimented with smog towers and water sprinklers. Smog towers are supposed to act as giant air purifiers. However, by all accounts, their efficacy is restricted to the immediate vicinity, leaving the broader cityscape unaffected. There has also been no audit of the emissions from these machines. Similarly, the jury is out on cloud seeding and the use of drones, two measures that have found prominence in the Delhi government’s recent list of solutions. Excessive emphasis on such questionable responses has detracted from building the institutional capacities required to clean up the city’s air. This task, of course, cannot be undertaken in an emergency mode. But in the three years since it replaced the Supreme Court-mandated EPCA as Delhi’s nodal pollution control agency, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has invested very little in data-driven, science-based solutions.
Farm fire incidents in Haryana and Punjab have been coming down in the past few years. However, reports continue to indicate high pollution levels in the two states. On Tuesday, Chandigarh recorded the second-worst air quality in the country. The city municipality’s response to the crisis is similar to its counterpart’s in Delhi — sprinkling water and using fogging machines. Joining the dots between local and regional pollution could be beyond the capacities and mandate of municipalities. This is where an agency such as the CAQM should step in. Solutions such as airshed pollution management — which zeros in pollution hotspots in regions — require coordination between local and state-level agencies. The CAQM has largely been operating as a regulatory agency. The central government agency needs to step up and join the dots between local and regional pollution, beyond seasonal issues such as stubble burning.