Delhi pollution Archives - Lokmarg

I Wish To Visit Delhi For Diwali But Fear Of Smog Holds Me Back

‘I So Wish To Visit Delhi For Diwali, But Fear Of Smog Hangs Heavy’

By LokMarg 19th October 2024

Tripti Sharma feels torn between her desire to be home for Diwali and being exposed to the polluting haze that engulfs Delhi every festive season. Her story:

As I sit in Indianapolis, thinking about the approaching Diwali, my heart aches with a familiar pull. Every year, this festival is supposed to be a time for joy, family, and celebration. It’s the one time I wish to fly back to India, leave behind the business of life here in the US, and immerse myself in the warmth of home. But this year, that excitement is overshadowed by a growing sense of fear—the fear of breathing the air that’s slowly suffocating my hometown.

I keep reading the news about how bad the air quality is going to be around Diwali, with stubble burning already in full swing in Punjab and Haryana. Delhi, where my family lives, is predicted to be blanketed in smog. The idea of walking through the streets, the smell of crackers mixed with the smoky haze, doesn’t fill me with nostalgia anymore; it fills me with dread. What’s worse is that I don’t just worry for myself, I am concerned about my ageing parents, my little nieces and nephews. The idea of exposing them to this level of pollution weighs heavy on my mind.

It’s strange. Here in Indianapolis, as fall turns to winter, I look outside at the crisp, cold air and think about how different things are in North India. I should be packing my bags, thinking about all the sweets I’ll eat, the diyas we’ll light together, but instead, I’m glued to the air quality index, checking it like some sort of doomsday countdown.

ALSO READ: ‘I Celebrate My Diwali With A Nebulizer And Meds’

A part of me feels so torn. I’ve lived in the US long enough to get used to clean air and clear skies. Breathing is something I don’t have to think about here. But going back to India, to Delhi especially, around Diwali? It’s like walking into a cloud of invisible danger. The smog settles into every corner of the city, thick and suffocating. You can’t escape it, even indoors. Air purifiers can only do so much.

I feel this gnawing guilt too. Diwali is about family. My parents miss me, and I miss them. My mother’s been sending pictures of the preparations—the rangoli they’ve made, the sweets they’re preparing, her hopeful messages saying, “It’s not that bad this year.” But I know she’s just trying to reassure me, and it breaks my heart. She doesn’t want me to worry, but how can I not?

The worst part is how helpless it all feels. Stubble burning is something that happens every year, and every year, we all watch as the pollution levels spike, and people start choking on the air. It’s not like this is a new problem, but it feels like nothing ever changes. I feel angry and frustrated, knowing this could be fixed if only there were stricter regulations or better solutions for farmers. But instead, it’s the people, my family, who pay the price.

I want to go home. I want to light diyas with my family, laugh over old memories, and feel the magic of Diwali like I did when I was a kid. But now, it feels like a choice between celebrating and protecting my health. I never thought something as basic as the air we breathe would make me reconsider going home.

For now, I’m stuck in this painful limbo. Should I go and risk it? Should I stay here, safe but homesick? Every year, the decision gets harder. Diwali is supposed to be about light and hope, but right now, all I feel is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over everything.

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As told to Deepti Sharma

Construction, Demolition Banned In Delhi-NCR As AQI Turns Severe

By LokMarg 4th December 2022

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), a Union government panel recommending steps to control air pollution in the national capital, on Sunday announced a temporary ban on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR as part of its Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The announcement came after the air quality in Delhi and the national capital region worsened again, breaching the ‘severe’ category.
The CAQM, which on Sunday chaired a meeting to review the air quality in Delhi-NCR, put out a release saying, “As the AQI in Delhi has slipped into ‘severe’ category, the sub-committee had decided that all actions, as envisaged under Stage III of the GRAP, be implemented in right earnest by all the agencies concerned, with immediate effect in the NCR, in addition to all action under Stage I and Stage II of the GRAP.”

The panel further observed that the air quality saw a further deterioration over the last 24 hours, with Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 407 on December 4, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

In its order, the CAQM says it temporarily banned construction activities, “with the exception of Metro Rail services, including stations; airport and inter-state bus terminals; railway services/stations; national security/defence-related activities/ projects of national importance; hospitals/healthcare facilities; linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines; sanitation projects like sewage treatment plants and water supply projects; ancillary activities specific to and supplementing above categories of projects”.

Milk and dairy units and those involved in the manufacturing of life-saving medical equipment, drugs and medicines, were also exempted from the restrictions stipulated in the CAQM order.

An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 and 500 ‘severe’. (ANI)

The Poor And The Voiceless Are Worst Affected By Pollution

By LokMarg 8th November 2022

Aliza Firoz, pursuing bachelors in history at the Jamia Millia Islamia, says small baby steps towards a clean environment can make a big difference

Like all things in the realm of our life, even pollution and its impact are not equal in Delhi and its neighbourhood. The poor, daily wagers, working women, construction workers, rickshaw-pullers, cyclists, they all suffer the most, including their children. The rich can remain safe in enclosed spaces, they can travel inside their cars with windows shut. Many of them own two or more cars, diesel-guzzling SUVs, several air-conditioners and huge refrigerators, adding hugely to the pollution in the air. Most of the rich simply don’t care for the environment.

The main thing is to be sensitive and learn to act small, take small steps, in our personal and social life. Why use crackers and blow up hugely expensive ‘laris’ worth thousands while filling the air we breathe with poison! Even in weddings and birthday parties they are bursting crackers! If India wins a cricket match, they start bursting crackers! They should understand that this can be very harmful and hurtful for human beings and animals, including the ailing, the old, little children. They should understand that animals can’t even speak about their anxiety and pain, amidst this loud and noisy celebrations. Can’t we see how the sparrows, the birds, are terrorised by the sound of the crackers?

There should be a conscious effort by everyone, all of us, to follow certain principles and rules for the sake of the larger collective; only preaching and not taking action will not do. There should be social consciousness which can make us behave and act in a certain responsible manner.

ALSO READ: ‘I Celebrated Diwali With Nebulizer & Medicines’

Why not go for environment-friendly crackers, for instance? Why not choose car pools with your friends – from the same class and status if that is what they are comfortable with – instead of one car for one person? Why use loudspeakers when you can operate without them? Why not make small water pools to immerse the idols after the festivals, instead of polluting water bodies and rivers? Try using earthen pots to cool water instead of refrigerators, for instance. Or, don’t add to passive smoking.

We must take care of basic things. We should learn to be minimalist in terms of our daily life. We should not create and make huge amount of waste, including non-biodegradable plastic, and learn recycling, or using the waste for productive purposes. When you cut a packet of milk and leave that little piece on the ground, it might take thousands of years for that piece to dissolve. We should draw inspiration from ‘Ikigai’, the Japanese form of minimalist living, and drive satisfaction from it.

Recently, I saw a former woman IAS topper burning a cracker; she got hurt. The video became viral. She is a role model, a bureaucrat, why should she glorify crackers? Besides, sadly, she got badly hurt too, like many children do when they burst crackers.

I repeat, small steps, the smallest actions, make a big difference. Only then change happens. ‘Boond, boond se banta sagar…’

As told to Amit Sengupta

CAQM Lifts Ban On Entry Of Heavy Vehicles To NCR As Air Quality Improves

By LokMarg 7th November 2022

In view of the improvement in the overall air quality of the Delhi-NCR in the past few days, a Central government panel revoked Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 4, which means that there is no ban on entry of trucks and non-BS 6 diesel light motor vehicles are allowed. But ban on non-essential construction activities which come under GRAP-3 now in force would continue.

The GRAP is an emergency response action plan invoked with a view to arrest further deterioration of adverse air quality scenarios in NCR.
GRAP stage 3 still remains invoked. So, ban on construction and demolition activities in the entire NCR region except for railway services, metro rail services including stations and other essential activities will continue.

According to the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region (CAQM), “Under Stage III State Governments in NCR/ GNCTD may impose restrictions on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel LMVS (4 wheelers). Choose a cleaner commute — share a ride to work or use public transport or walk or cycle.”

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will chair a meeting on Monday to discuss revoking of 50 per cent of work from home and re-opening primary schools after the orders issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region (CAQM) today.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry in a statement said, “While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters of Delhi-NCR, the Commission noted that due to forecast by IMD/ IITM not indicating any steep degradation in the overall air quality of Delhi-NCR in the coming days, it is advisable to relax the restrictions and further roll back Stage IV of GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR”.

According to CAQM, the present AQI level of Delhi is around 339 which is about 111 AQI

points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-IV actions (Delhi AQI > 450) and preventive/ mitigative/ restrictive actions under all Stages up to Stage-IV are underway, there is a likelihood of sustaining the improvement in AQI. The forecast by IMD/ IITM also does not indicate any steep degradation further.

The forecasts also indicated a significant improvement around November 5 and November 6, 2022, therefore, the sub-Committee while invoking Stage IV of the GRAP, decided to review the situation on November 6, 2022. (ANI)

Punjab: Uptick In Stubble-Burning Incidents; 24,000 Reported So Far

By LokMarg 4th November 2022

Stubble burning continued unabated in Punjab with the state reporting nearly 24,000 such cases so far, an official said on Friday.

The incidents of stubble burning have seen a rise in parts of Punjab this year in comparison to last year. However, the area of fields burnt has witnessed a drop of 1 percent so far.
Speaking to ANI over the phone, Senior Environmental Engineer of Punjab Pollution Control Board, Gurbakhshish Singh Gill said that 1,144 incidents of stubble burning have taken place in the state till Thursday and 24,146 such incidents in Punjab.

“We are working in coordination with the government. Efforts are on. Farmers are being sensitised. Our teams are monitoring the situation. We are hopeful of the situation is in our control this time,” he said earlier on Thursday.

He attributed various factors to the deterioration in the Air Quality Index (AQI).

“There are various factors responsible for the deteriorating AQI. Stubble burning is one of them, other is Diwali, transportation, and other atmospheric conditions,” he said.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Showkat Ahmad Parray said,

“Nearly 1,200 incidents have been reported till now. Last year, it was nearly 900 which has increased this time. But the data that comes to us is not right in itself because there is some period during which the satellite does not capture the incidents. So if there is stubble burning taking place during that period, such incidents are not reported to us,” he said.

He said that a better way to evaluate the stubble burning is to check the area burnt, adding that the number of incidents is “not a right criterion”.

“A better way to evaluate is to see how much area is burnt. We get a separate report of the area burnt. We study it. We do not consider the number of incidents much important. The number of incidents is not the right criterion, so we focus on the area. Last year, nearly 4.5 percent of the area was burnt till this time, this year it is 3.5 percent. Last year, a total of nearly 50 to 55 percent of the area was burnt, we expect a fall of at least 10 percent in it,” he added.

Pollution has risen in Delhi where the AQI remained in the ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day. Stubble burning has contributed to 34 percent of Delhi’s PM 2.5 pollution.

On Friday morning the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city jumped to 472. Noida, which is part of the national capital region, recorded an AQI of 562, and continued to remain in the ‘severe’ category, while Gurugram’s AQI stood at 539 and continued to remain in the ‘severe’, as per data released by SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) India.

Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe. (ANI)

Weekly Update: Delhi’s Hazardous Air; A New Strain Of COVID

By Lehnga Singh 28th November 2021

A social media meme drenched in black humour has been doing the rounds in Delhi for the past couple of weeks. It goes: “If you don’t gulp down your peg of Glenfiddich quickly enough on an evening in Delhi, it can turn into a Laphroiag.” The reference here to the lighter coloured Speyside whisky turning into a darker, more peaty Islay whisky is all about pollution in Delhi. On Saturday evening around 7 pm, the Air Quality Index (AQI), which measures the levels of suspended particulate matter in the air, in Delhi was around 745. The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern. For example, an AQI value of 50 or below represents good air quality, while an AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality. At 745, it is a grievously terrible situation.

While jokes and memes, tapped out on phones from well-endowed and privileged Delhiites, gives one side of the picture in Delhi, the story from the streets of India’s capital city is not one that could make you guffaw. Delhi has an estimated 150,000-200,000 homeless people, the majority of whom live on the streets. CNN had a heart-rending story about an 84-year-old homeless man begging for food on the sidewalk outside Delhi’s South Campus Metro station, breathing the air noxiously full of smog. Millions of Delhiites eke out their living in the sprawling city with a population of more than 20 million by working on the streets, on construction sites, in open-air food and vegetable markets, or simply by plying auto rickshaws and handcarts. Hawkers, policemen, security guards, food delivery couriers–you name it–they are constantly exposed to air quality that is life-threatening.

The situation is a repeat every year, especially as winter sets in and cold air traps emissions from stubble burning on farms around Delhi, poorly regulated factories in and around the city, and the mesh of foul emission spewing traffic. Every year, when this happens, there is media outrage and huge concerns. But everyone, including the government, has become so inured to it that even as it gets warmer and the air clears even a little bit–although even then the AQI levels are dangerous–the outrage dies down. Year in and year out, it is the same story.

It is not that the government–both at the centre and in the Delhi state–have not done anything. A few years ago, they tried an experiment of restricting traffic by allowing only vehicles with licence numbers that were even to be out on the streets on one day and ones with odd numbers the next. The experiment wasn’t given time enough for its efficacy to be assessed before it was shelved.

This year, following a judicial order after an environmental activist had moved court, schools and colleges were shut down; construction projects were stopped and some of the coal-fired power plants around the city were ordered to be closed down. But as the air quality improved marginally, everything was back to business as usual.

Delhi isn’t the only Indian city that is reeling from the adverse effects of air pollution. Nine of the ten most polluted cities in the world are in India, which depends heavily on fossil fuel as a source of energy. At the COP26 summit that recently concluded in Glasgow, India was one of the countries that wanted to phase down coal instead of phasing it out.

It is a classic conundrum. Industrialised countries have reached a level of advanced development, (much of it achieved through decades of burning fossil fuel) where they can now decide to move to a non-fossil fuel environment. Countries such as India, which are still grappling with basic development goals cannot afford to do so. What then is the solution? The answers remain elusive.

Yet Another COVID Variant From S Africa

Even as a new and potentially more dangerous COVID strain was discovered in South Africa and travel restrictions were imposed by many countries on movement of people from there, many Indian states have imposed fresh restrictions on people travelling to those states from international as well as domestic areas. In Maharashtra, all domestic travellers will have to either be fully vaccinated or have a favourable RT-PCR test that is valid for 72 hours.

In Kerala, where the COVID situation has remained alarming, the emergence of the new strain, named Omicron, has given cause for concern. Kerala has been so badly affected by COVID this year that in August there were days when the relatively small state accounted for more than 50% of the total number of cases in the country.

Epidemiologists have had no concrete answers to why Kerala has been so badly affected. Some say it is because the state is able to test people for COVID at a much higher rate than what other states are able to do. Others point to population density in the state. But it is also a fact that Kerala has been able to vaccinate its population more efficiently than other states and that last year it was able to control the spread of the virus better than several other states.

But given India’s huge population, high levels of poverty and low levels of awareness, the emergence of a new strain of COVID, albeit for now in S. Africa, should be a reason for worry. And state as well as central governments have to constantly monitor travel, vaccination programmes and precautionary measures such as mandatory social distancing and the use of masks.