"The data from State of Global Air 2020 shows that 1.67 million people die due to air pollution annually - around 4,700 deaths per day, and over three deaths per minute. Half a million more people fell prey to air pollution last year than the number of lives claimed globally by COVID-19. But, air pollution did not get the emergency response either from the systems and nor from the people," said Integrated Health & Wellbeing (IHW) Council CEO Kamal Narayan at the recent Good Air Summit.
"The summit is a reaction to the growing pollution levels and for citizens to seek their rightful entitlements," added Narayan.
This online summit was organised by the IHW Council with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and attended by Minister Prakash Javadekar, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, National Green Tribunal former chairperson Swatanter Kumar, UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador & UN Secretary-General Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals Dia Mirza and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) director general Ajay Mathur.
Presenting the findings of a survey, Mathur revealed that pollution caused by biomass is on a decline while industrial pollution is on the increase. "Emissions caused about 37 per cent pollution in 2016 which reduced to nearly 27 per cent in 2019, depending on the time of the year. Phasing out of BS-IV cars, encouraging work-from-home, converting agri waste to coke and using them to fuel power plants are some ways to manage pollution in Delhi," Mathur added.
Javadekar also expressed hope that the newly-constituted Commission for Air Quality will reduce pollution in Delhi: "We have invested Rs 85,000 crore in implementing the BS-VI standard - with BS-VI engine and fuel, pollution can be reduced by 70 per cent. Also, the number of trucks entering Delhi has reduced by 50,000."
Protecting the environment is a constitutional obligation and duty of the governments, shared Swatanter Kumar. "We don’t need more laws but better implementation. The CPCB will need better technology to measure the pollution caused by a running vehicle that causes more pollution than a stationary one and a mechanism for farmers to stop crop residue burning," he said.
Eco initiatives
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change invested Rs 85,000 crore in implementing the BS-VI standard. It claims with BS-VI engine and fuel, pollution can be reduced by 70 per cent. Also, the number of trucks entering Delhi has reduced by 50,000.