“Our work on a daily basis can range from coordinating with traffic police to ensure there’s no congestion on roads (to prevent increased emissions from vehicles) to analysing data that will help formulate policies for pollution control.”Chetan Arora, Junior Environment Engineer
First established in 2020, Delhi’s Green War Room has been tasked with controlling air pollution and air quality in the national capital.
Tackling pollution is a serious concern in many parts of India. But especially in Delhi – where it is literally about life and death.
In August this year, a report by Chicago University's Energy and Policy Institute said that Delhi residents are likely to lose 11.9 years of their life if current air pollution levels are not brought down. The same report highlighted two other things that should worry Delhi residents:
While Delhi residents are at risk of losing almost 12 years of their lives, the average Indian in other cities will lose 5.3 years of their life.
The PM 2.5 concentration in Delhi is 126.5 micrograms per cubic metres – which is 25 times the WHO limit of 5 micrograms per cubic metre.
What is also concerning is that year after year, in October and November, right after Diwali, the AQI levels in Delhi surpass 999 (which is the upper limit for monitoring stations).
Ahead of the peak air pollution season, FIT visited the Green War Room which is a part of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to understand more about what it does.