In a panicky scramble, the government is discussing ways to curb air pollution. Meetings have been called, press conferences held and notices released.
From the look of things, one would think the sudden extreme air pollution in Delhi came out of the blue. But it definitely didn’t. So why did it take so long for the government to get into gear?
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Kejriwal’s government has been talking about solutions for a while. Most of the pollution in Delhi comes from construction dust, road dust and crop burning around the city. So making sure these pollution sources are cut out, the government needs to enforce existing regulations that ban crop burning, and which force construction companies to water down their building process to keep the dust earth bound.
But Kejriwal hasn’t been on good terms with officials from other political parties that govern states neighbouring Delhi, so compliance could be challenging.
Delhi’s chief minister has also proposed a few tactics, like cracking down on waste burning, watering down roads, and placing smoke-filtering chimneys in crematoriums. Some of these measures won’t come into place for a couple of weeks, even though pollution levels need to be addressed NOW.
PM 2.5, a primary pollutant, reaches 5 to 20 times levels that are deemed safe by experts every day. PM 2.5 is associated with heart disease, cancer and breathing disorders and can contain toxic elements like heavy metals. These levels can be checked online, through twitter feeds like @DelhiChokes and through Smokey: Air Quality Bot, which sends direct Facebook messages about air quality on a regular basis.
For now, it seems like Delhi may need to endure more of the pollution. Winter is settling in, and there haven’t been strong winds to push the pollution away. Let’s see if the government can act on its promises.
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Camera: Shiv Kumar Maurya
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