95% Of MCD Workers Aware of Air Pollution, Feel It Is Out of Their Hands: Study

Amongst the workers about 72% of engineers and 53% of inspectors were aware of national policies on air pollution.

New Delhi: Commuters ride past on a road amid low visibility due to smog as the air pollution increased, in New Delhi on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022.

(Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS)

94.8% of Delhi's Municipal Corporation (MCD) officials are aware of air pollution, however national policies and the health effects of air pollution are not as well known amongst the field workers according to a new study conducted by Climate Trends and Earth Root Foundation.

MCD Workers’ Knowledge of Air Pollution Subpar Says Study

This study was conducted between October and December 2021, where researchers interviewed staff from various levels within the MCD to gauge their awareness and attitude regarding air pollution.

Most of the staff said that they knew the term 'air pollution', but terms such as National Clean Air Program (NCAP) and City Action Plans (CAPs) were not as commonly known. Amongst the workers about 72.4% of engineers and 53% of the inspectors were aware of national policies related to air pollution.

“While the air pollution work on the ground is deeply interdependent, at the governance level, it is in silos, which is the biggest challenge in implementing any project. MCD continues to focus on its subject of waste or schools but doesn’t think of air pollution, even though waste contributes to air pollution or schools are shut down due to air pollution."

Bharati Chaturvedi, Founder and Director, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group

The study covered two zones within ‘West and Nazafgarh’ in the SDMC region and the NDMC zone, where they spoke to engineers and inspectors of the MCD.

Most of the responses regarding air pollution identified vehicular pollution (99%), Construction and Road Dust (94%) and stubble burning (91.5%) as the key sources for decreasing air quality.

The study concluded that awareness regarding air pollution amongst the staff members of the MCD was sub par and that most were reluctant to proactively working towards changing their attitude towards the spread of pollution.

"Air pollution has to be a part of the broken issues which must be fixed. It is as much a civic issue which MCD should address as any other infrastructure issue. At the upcoming MCD elections, there should be a recognition that better coordination and improved accountability mechanisms should be there to ensure our policies are implemented in their truest sense.”

Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends