Delhi’s air pollution may not always be as visible as it is during the winter months, but any plan to tackle it must be designed with short-, medium- and long-term measures.
For 23 days in April, the residents of Delhi breathed less noxious air than they do the rest of the year. On these days, the air quality index (AQI) was below 201 — compared to 17 days during the same period in 2023, none in 2022, 18 in 2021, 12 in 2019 and eight in 2018. According to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the improvement can be attributed to “favourable meteorological/weather conditions coupled with consistent, comprehensive, concerted efforts” to control air pollution in the national capital region. Is this, then, good news on the ever-grim air quality front in Delhi?
There seems to be a suggestion of overall improvement in air quality in Delhi and its adjoining areas in the data released by CAQM at the end of last year: Not counting the anomalous conditions in 2020 (when Covid-related restrictions resulted in a sharp drop in activity, and therefore, pollution levels), the period from 2018 to 2023 showed a steadily declining daily average AQI — from 225 in 2018 to 204 in 2023. There was also a rise in the number of good air days (with AQI between 0 to 200) — from 159 in 2018 to 206 in 2023. Yet, when looked at closely, the picture is not quite so rosy: AQI was between 0-50 only on one day in 2023, a dip from the grand total of 3 in 2022, although an improvement over zero days in 2018. Most of the “good” air days were in the moderate category of 101-200 AQI. The fact is that the air in Delhi — indeed, most Indian cities — remains bad because the baseload emissions are very high. There are no shortcuts to reduce this. Occasionally, meteorological or external conditions reduce or sharpen the impact of pollution — like this April, or when a record-breaking La Nina event in the Pacific Ocean led to cleaner-than-usual air in the winter of 2022. And emergency actions, like the highly publicised odd-even scheme and construction bans, cannot address what is patently a problem in need of a long-term strategy.
Delhi’s air pollution may not always be as visible as it is during the winter months, but any plan to tackle it must be designed with short-, medium- and long-term measures, including targeted interventions in airsheds — localities in cities or contiguous small urban and rural centres, whose peculiar geography may hinder the dispersal of pollutants. This also requires greater coordination between local, state and central bodies, enabled by the CAQM, which has so far acted more like a regulatory body, focused primarily on implementing emergency responses.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 01-05-2024 at 20:16 IST
