NEW DELHI: As 2025 draws to a close with another disappointing winter of hazardous air, residents of Delhi are pinning hopes on 2026 as a pivotal year in the capital’s long struggle for clean air. With experts highlighting that the focus this year should shift to structural changes necessary for lasting improvement, residents look forward to government pledges translating into action.
For many citizens, the dream of a pollution-free Delhi where children play outside without masks and commuters are not met with thick smog remains distant but urgent. However, all they got were recurring anti-pollution actions. This aspiration is also increasingly echoed not just in public discourse but in expert advises. Analysts pointed out that traditional solutions need an overhaul.
Measures such as water-sprinkling on roads, enforcement of Graded Response Action Plan restrictions, and vehicle pollution checks deliver only temporary relief and fail to address core drivers of harmful fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
Air quality experts say, these quick fixes often emphasise larger particles rather than the dangerous fine particles that cause the greatest health harm. With authorities asked to prepare comprehensive, year-round air quality action plans for 2026, it seems that the focus is shifting from seasonal measures to long-term solutions.
Gufran Beig, chair professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies and founder-director of SAFAR, says that the relentless growth of vehicles and inadequate infrastructure expansion negates gains made by cleaner technologies, such as electric vehicles.
Health specialists have called for year-round, science-based strategies rather than reactive seasonal measures, warning that the current patchwork approach leaves Delhi vulnerable every winter. “Efforts to curb pollution cannot be only temporary,” said Dr Anant Mohan of AIIMS, urging sustained action across all seasons.
Looking ahead to 2026, experts argue that Delhi must move beyond symbolic and stop-gap interventions to tackle pollution at its source.
According to experts, to prevent the capital from entering another year trapped in the same cycle of smog shrouding the sky, there is an urgent need to curb the unchecked growth of private vehicles, accelerate the retirement of old and polluting commercial fleets, and ensure that cleaner fuel and electric mobility policies are matched by adequate charging and transport infrastructure.
Achieving a pollution-free Delhi will require political will, integrated planning across states, and public participation, a combination that many hope will finally turn long-term aspirations into reality in the coming year.