Delhi: From National Capital to Catastrophic region

Dr Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao

“The air traffic in Delhi airport came to a standstill” became a common news in the media specifically in the month of November. This November is no exception. The Air Quality Index (AQI) deteriorated to 494 which is on par with the recorded worst polluted day of Delhi in 2019. Despite the recurring November experience for the capital region of Delhi, there seems to be no curative attempts from the administration of both Delhi and Centre. As usual the debating rooms of the TV channels rised the verbal heat and provided platform for the political slugfest on the pollution of the capital city. Politicians, as it is their wont, compete to blame each other to fix up the responsibility forgetting the fact that every major political party ruled Delhi at one time or the other. Both the politicians and the citizens of the Delhi forget the issue once the pollution impact eased out on its own. Surprisingly the victims, the citizens of National Capital Region are not agitating continuously on this pollution issue. This air pollution is haunting the capital regions for over two decades and the old timers of Delhi recollect the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) bill board of 2000, where it asked the then PM to roll down the window glass of his bullet proof car to know the real threat, as the security threat is not from the gun but from the air of the Delhi as CSE felt then. Surprisingly there seems to be no solution to the Delhi pollution despite the many judicial orders from Supreme Court, environmental expert’s suggestions and urban planner’s efforts. Delhi was ruled by all the main political parties including the current AAP which is in office for near 15 years.  Aravind Kejriwal, the CM till recently may claim many achievements, but his track record on the city pollution front is as good or as bad as his predecessors from Congress and BJP.  What surprises is the current AAP administration has told the National Green Tribunal about a month ago that it is implementing its 21 point winter action plan involving 30 governmental agencies to reduce the pollution problem of Delhi in November.  Despite that the situation worsened and the Delhi CM is not coming out with the reasons for its failure. Unconfirmed news say that foreign dignitaries are worried to visit Delhi as they are worried about their health, especially their lungs, and that is not a good news for any country on its capital’s environment. To cap it all the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Sashi Tharoor has raised the question of continuance of Delhi as the capital city. Whether he is genuinely interested in clean Delhi or trying to help his party to start election campaign on the forthcoming elections in Delhi, the national capital region, is not clear.

The air quality issue of Delhi is not new and it was there for over three decades. For the polluted atmosphere in Delhi the states of Punjab and Haryana and their farmers are blamed by Aravind Kejriwal when he was in the CM chair but the data is not supporting his claim. The stubble burning after the agricultural season by the farmers was the norm in those two states and Pune based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology assessed that only 2.4% of the bad air of Delhi is contributed by the stubble burning. Road dust is found out to be the top contributor for Delhi polluted air by a study undertaken by the IIT, Kanpur. As per their finding 56% is road dust followed by the concrete bathing, industrial discharge and vehicle emissions collectively contributing 29% for the pollution.

The issue of pollution in Delhi is real. It is not only air pollution but even the water is getting polluted. The River Yamuna, the main water source for Delhi is full of thick froth of toxic foam because of the industrial effluents released into the river untreated.  Capital region becoming a catastrophic region is there to see with many rushing to hospital with breathing and gastric problems, staying indoors at the cost of their work and people wearing mask even on normal days. Unfortunately no one is owning the responsibility and implement the solutions offered by experts. If the political cacophony dominates, and state governments ruling neighbouring Delhi prefers politics over the solutions then the Delhi citizens are bound to subject to “slow death” in the “polluted gas chamber” called the capital catastrophic region.