Since late October, a thick layer of toxic smog has hung over New Delhi, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) readings oscillating between “very poor” and “severe”. Some have gone so far as to liken the city to a “gas chamber.”
A survey published over the weekend by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, found that 4 out of 5 families in the city and surrounding areas have a member experiencing pollution-related ailments such as a sore throat, cough, burning eyes or shortness of breath.
The poll, which received over 19,000 responses, also found that 18% of families had one or more members who had visited a doctor or a hospital to treat such problems. Another 13% stated that they were not currently in the city. “In effect,” the report said, “to avoid the impact of high air pollution, some have temporarily moved out of the national capital region, while the majority of those remaining are having to pay a price.”
New Delhi’s dirty air problem is not new. Conditions typically worsen in October and November, when farmers in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana burn the “stubble” of harvested crops to prepare their fields for the next sowing season. Fumes from these states, coupled with pollution from other sources like industry and vehicles, linger over the city of 20 million amid calm winds and cooler temperatures.
For four years in a row, New Delhi has had the dubious distinction of topping Swiss company IQAir’s list of the world’s most polluted capitals. Its annual average PM2.5 concentration – a measure of lung-damaging airborne particulates measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter – stood at 85 micrograms per cubic meter in the latest report issued in March, more than double Beijing’s 34.4.
But while the city’s residents are no strangers to smog, a political row is heating up over who is responsible between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, which governs the capital region.
Federal authorities are slamming the AAP – which also governs Punjab, where the cases of burning agriculture residue have risen this year – for the air quality crisis in the capital. “As of today, Punjab, a state run by the AAP government, has seen an over 19% rise in farm fires over 2021,” national Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted last Wednesday.
“There is no doubt over who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber,” he wrote.
AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters a couple of days later that the pollution was not an issue for Delhi alone but for all of northern India. “The central government should also come forward to take specific steps to save the whole of north India from air pollution,” he said.
Experts are not impressed with either side.
Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said both the federal and state governments “have failed to protect public health,” adding that the political blame game is not a solution. What is needed, he said, are systematic mitigation efforts throughout the year, both to change farming practices as well as to curb pollution from other sources, such as transportation and power.
“We shouldn’t just wake up a few days before the season comes and try to control everything,” he said.
Farmers could be advised to diversify, with cash incentives for planting fruit and vegetables, which leave far less residue after harvest and have smaller cultivation windows. “You have to start engaging with farmers from today for a reduction in next year’s stubble burning,” Dahiya said.
But he sees a “lack of political will” to solve the problem. “Voters don’t vote based on issues such as air pollution but on the basis of caste, creed and religion, and that’s why politicians are still able to get away with this,” Dahiya said.
Meanwhile, New Delhi residents are dealing with disruptions and fluctuating advisories.
The capital city’s government on Monday revoked an order issued last Friday for the closure of primary schools, and for 50% of its staff to work from home, as air quality improved slightly. But experts cautioned that it was too early to lift the restrictions, as the AQI is expected to return to the severe level in the next few days.
“These are knee-jerk reactions, and should be avoided,” environmentalist Vimlendu Jha was quoted as saying by local news agency PTI.
New Delhi is grappling with acute pollution as the world’s focus turns to the environment and harmful emissions at the COP27 conference in Egypt. India has called on rich nations to fulfil – and beef up – their 2009 pledge of providing US$100 billion in annual climate financing to help developing countries deal with climate change.
“The goal of US$100 billion per year of climate finance by 2020 and every year thereafter through till 2025 is yet to be achieved,” the Indian government said in a statement before the conference opened on Sunday. “While the promised amount must be reached as quickly as possible, there is a need now to substantially enhance the ambition.”