NEW DELHI: The winter misery is back to haunt the residents of the national capital region (NCR). As the air quality turned severe the government was quick to implement the Grap III regulations severly impacting education and mobility. Sometimes I wonder why nobody questions the government and protests against the notification of these rules, for which the citizens are made to pay for no fault of their’s.
A few days back, the newspapers and television channels went to town with the news that with the ‘great efforts’ of Delhi government environment minister Gopal Rai, water was sprinked by drones in the Anand Vihar area of Delhi. One lives in the Anand Vihar AQI (air quality index) tower jurisdiction and despite this ‘great effort’, the AQI has remained consistently around or mostly above 400.
Why we do not question the minister that why did he indulge in such worthless gimmickry. Similarly a few years back, Rai’s leader and then chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had inaugurated anti-smog towers with much fanfare to blow away pollution. In less than three years the fans have been junked and no questions ever asked from anybody on the huge bills paid to these vendors.
The situation on the air turning ‘hazardous’ was best captured in the report of ‘The Guardian’, the globally influential newspaper published from London. The report said, “Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter which is estimated to reduce life expectancy for the capital’s residents by up to seven years.The pollution has become an annual source of misery for those living in Delhi, with various piecemeal government initiatives failing to measurably address the problem.”
Politicians are happy not taking action against the electorally powerful farmers, whose late cropping of paddy and then stubble burning to make fields ready for wheat sowing are said to be the main cause of the fumes travelling from north-west India to the national Capital region. The politicians from these regions can’t afford to anger key figures in their constituencies, particularly powerful farming groups.
While now the public focus woud be how soon are the restrictions are lifted, no one would want to discuss the lonterm harm smogs were causing to the human health.People are yet to take account of the hidden costs and implications to health and wellbeing of the citizens in and around Delhi, which according to doctors, is immeasurable and will alter the genetic makeup for generations to come. That means more mental and physical damage including great increase in cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and other diseases.
Though the government has derided a finding of the much-respected medical journal, ‘The Lancet’, its important to know what it has published. ‘The Lancet’ has said that 1.67million premature deaths in India take place due to poor quality air. The government has to find a permanent resolution to the issue.
Scientists believe that the long-term solution to the problem of stubble burning lies in profitably processing farm waste. This can only be achieved if the government purchases the waste for productive use. While a policy has been formulated by the Centre and passed on to the states with financial and technical support, Punjab has been the biggest culprit. Despite the Centre’s assistance, the state has faltered in processing farm waste.
On the day last week, theair became hazardous for the first time in this season, according to a report in the columns of this newspaper, a record 7112 stubble burning cases were reported from Punjab. The price for the laxity of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab converges in a thick layers of smog in Delhi, which the AAP government in the national Capital tries to douse by drone sprinklers.
We live in no less than a wonderland which Alice visited in Oxford mathematician Lewis Caroll’s famous novel.
Sidharth Mishra
Author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice
