Delhi: Turned into a gas chamber

            Delhi Pollution: A National Health Crisis

When Delhi, the national capital woke up on Saturday morning on November 2, 2019, smog had covered the entire city and even one minute of going out without covering our face felt like breathing poison. On Sunday, the whole nation realised, what kind of disaster we are in since hourly air quality index of most places of NCT of Delhi was 999, the highest pollution meter could record. Doctors warned everyone not to step out without a mask, schools were shut, government declaring a public health emergency and thousands of people wanting to leave the city which had become a ‘Gas Chamber’.

And not just Delhi, most of the northern states faced the same problem.Many parts of Punjab, Bihar, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also witnessed deterioration in the air quality index, crossing 500 mark coming in the severe plus emergency category. And Chennai, which usually has better air quality also started facing the problems of smog and low visibility.

Why this is a grave issue?

According to WHO, air quality index (AQI) ranging 0-50 is considered as good, 51-100 as satisfactory, 101-200 as moderate, 200-300 as poor, 300-400 as very poor, 400-500 as severe and 500+ as severe plus (an emergency) which means even the healthy people will get affected. And in many parts of Indo-Gangetic plains, AQI has been above 500.

Breathing in Delhi right now is compared to smoking 33 cigarettes in a day. As many as 10,000 people a year may die prematurely in Delhi as a result of air pollution. Poor quality air irreversibly damages the lungs of 2.2 million or 50 percent of all children in the city. When we respire in such a polluted environment, not only our chances of getting asthma, bronchitis or other respiratory disorders increase but also, we can expect to lose about 7 years of life expectancy since air quality fails to meet the WHO standards.

Reasons behind worsening of air quality

The major reasons of severe air pollution at this time of year are stubble burning, bursting crackers, vehicular emissions and road dust. Even the smog we are facing in Delhi right now is because of stubble burning season in neighbouring agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana. In stubble burning, the farmers put fire to remaining straw stubble after harvesting grains, thus causing immense pollution.

Another big reason that played a role in aggravating the problem is bursting of crackers during Diwali. Despite the ban by state government on bursting crackers, in most parts of Delhi, people bought them illegally and no authority punished them. When someone complained, they rudely said since it’s a Hindu festival everyone is complaining, no one complains at New Year or any other celebration. What they fail to understand is that Diwali is the only time when pollution gets all time high in India. Those who deliberately busted crackers knowing that they are going to do harm to environment have no right to complain now. But its very unfortunate that the wise ones who did not burst crackers are also suffering because of misdeeds of such imprudent persons.

On night of Diwali, most pollution meters stopped taking reading of hourly AQI at 999 but there were some meters who even recorded above that. In Gurugram, the AQI was 1785 and in Ghaziabad, AQI was 2507, five times above severe plus emergency!

Institutive action of State Government and Judiciary

Delhi state government began their effort to tackle air pollution by ceasing all construction work and by re-implementing the ‘Odd-Even Scheme’. Ensuring strict implementation, 600 teams of the Delhi Traffic Police have been deployed and violation of the rule calls for heavy penalties.

The Centre also reviewed the situation with the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab and announced that the cabinet secretary would monitor it on a daily basis.

The Supreme Court of India came down heavily on governments of Punjab, Haryana. Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. It questioned the inadequacy of their schemes and passed directions that are to be implemented as soon as possible. These include:

1. Ban on all construction activity in Delhi.
2. Local officials of an area will be held personally liable for a violation.
3. Penalty of Rs 1 lakh on anyone found engaging in construction or demolition in Delhi NCR.
4. Penalty of Rs 5,000 on burning garbage in Delhi NCR. Chief secretaries, district collectors, tehsildars and the entire police machinery to ensure that not even a single incident takes place.
5.  Gram Pradhans will be personally held liable for any more stubble burning.

But these steps are not enough. Government really needs to work upon technological solutions because the sole reason behind stubble burning is that farmers do not have required machines. It is duty of any state government to provide assistance to farmers and thus, they should be held responsible. 

When accessibility of medical aids at such time become difficult, again it is our government’s duty ensure our welfare. Distribution of more than 50,000 masks  in government schools across Delhi was a great initiative. So is ‘Odd- Even Scheme’ but exemptions given in this scheme should be logical and well thought, which may not be the case presently.

But the main focus needs to be on the proper implementation of  policies. Sloppy attitude of authorities is the root cause of this crisis. Whether it was the crime of bursting crackers or of stubble burning, if stricter actions would have been taken at right time none of this would have happened.

Measures everyone should take to remain safe and healthy

Even in such scenario, we have to live and our small efforts could really save our lives. Here are a few tips, according to Free Press Journal, to avoid the possibility of illness stemming from air pollution and how to increase immunity.

1.       Wear Anti-pollution Masks: N-95 mask filters up to 95 per cent of particulate matter from 0.3 to 2.5 PM. Masks below this range may not be useful in high pollution of Delhi. The N-99 and N-100 air masks are capable of filtering PM 2.5 airborne particulate matter with up to 99 to 99.97 per cent efficiency.

2.      Get air purifying Indoor Plants: Plants such as Aloe Vera, money plant, spider plant, snake plant, bamboo palm etc. are natural air purifiers and helps in clearing air of harmful particles.

3.      Avoid Outdoor Exercises: Cardiovascular exercises helps in cleaning lungs but its when you are breathing fresh oxygen not smog. So, stay and exercise inside and step out only when its necessary.

4.      Stay hydrated and Eat healthy: Water helps in detoxification of body and eating healthy nutrient rich food builds immunity. Therefore, drink lots of water and eat vitamin C rich food like avla, guava, lemon, oranges etc. This will help to prepare the body better deal with toxins. Vitamin E consumption through sunflower seeds, almonds, avocados, salmon etc is also advised since they are strong antioxidants.

5.      Install Air Purifiers at home: If one can afford, install air purifiers that can cost Rs30,000 ($484) or more for every room of their house. They are especially helpful if you have trouble in breathing or have pets at home.

Hence, we can follow these measures at our own level to deal with this problem and to stay safe and healthy.


CURATED BY: SRISHTI (NET IMPACT MEMBER)