Winter is Coming!

As the temperatures start dipping and the city looks forward to the forthcoming festive season, Delhi Government gears up for high levels of air pollution in the coming months. The good news is that air pollution is recognized as a serious threat and it is heartwarming to see the National Capital take cognizance of the fact. 

In October Delhi’s AQI dropped to “poor” for the first time in almost four months. This prompted the phase 1 of GRAP to kick-in. A complete ban on coal and wood fires, dust mitigation measures during construction and demolition, use of anti-smog guns, water sprinkling on roads to check dust pollution and zero tolerance of visible emissions from polluting vehicles are some of the restrictive anti-air pollution measures in effect across the region. The transport department has been instructed to tighten its vigil and penalize polluting vehicles. Construction and demolition activities in projects with plot size equal to or more than 500 square meters which are not registered on the web portals of the NCR states for remote monitoring of dust mitigation measures, will be suspended. There is a complete ban on bursting, manufacturing, storage and sale (in shops as well on online marketing platforms) on all kinds of firecrackers in the National Capital Region till January 1, 2024. 

Every year, Delhi faces a public health crisis in the run-up to and during most of the winter season. The crisis begins with the emanation of farm fires in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, where farmers set fire to hundreds of square kilometres of paddy fields after harvesting them to clear them of residue, causing a smog jacket to form over northern India, particularly Delhi. The share of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM 2.5 concentration was 3% on 11 October 2023 with it being 0% in the four days prior to that, reported the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). Dipankar Saha, former head of Central Pollution Control Board’s air laboratory said farm fires have begun early this year as northwest India has seen far lesser rain this September, in comparison to last year, when rain was also being recorded in early October. He, however, said a higher count at this stage was more beneficial for Delhi’s air. “Early fires are better as the more the delay in burning, the worse the meteorological conditions are at that time of the year. This makes it more favourable for pollutants to get trapped. Last year, this burning was delayed and it led to higher pollution in end October and early November, when meteorological conditions are not ideal.” he said. 

Though all these measures will help in controlling the air pollution quality, the question is that why do we wait for the AQI to dip before taking action? Why are we taking measures to lessen the effects of poor air quality when the problem is evidently looming right ahead, rather than proactively making and implementing policies that ensure that the air quality remains good throughout the year?