Delhi Smog

A Nationalism Disaster

Somen Chakraborty

Diwali of this year was special for many among the Delhi denizens. Festivity apart, for some it was time for national celebration of post-Uri ‘surgical strike’, while for several others it became an occasion to exhibit collective might against continuing political brickbats between the Centre and the state of Delhi. To add it up further, charged up anti-China campaign before Diwali boosted up the sale of local diyas and crackers quite significantly. Irony is that many of these newly emerged ‘patriots’, who had campaigned intensely for ‘made in India’ products, of late, silently switched to Chinese lights and crackers as these were less costlier than the local items. Crackers from China were the choice again because the spark, flash of light and sound that they produce satisfy one’s investment.

Diwali being the key festival the days before it, Delhi has been always very hectic. Markets, decorated with glaring lights, are piled up with goods and materials. Markets in every nook and corner of the city witness sudden surge of footfalls. Traffic becomes so thick through the week that often the dead slow road traffic takes air pollution to an alarming level. More so, due to erratic wind movement the last week of October of this year experienced sudden fall of temperature making atmosphere unusually cool. Winter and cold normally causes particulate matter to stay close to the ground level and wind flow being slower than normal this time it stood almost static. Several other factors too contributed to worsen the air quality of the city.

Nothing of this danger was unknown or hidden to the governments and the people of Delhi NCR. One week before Diwali, the air quality index (AQI) stood around 318 microgram per cubic meter which was much higher than the normal level of 100 microgram per cubic meter. This information appeared frequently in various news media.  

Ambient Air Quality as per CPCB protocol	2015	2016
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	1.1 mg/m3 - 4.0 mg/m3	2.0 mg/m3 - 4.2 mg/m3
Oxides of Nitrogen (NO2)	37.0 µg/m3 - 79.02 µg/m3	70.0 µg/m3 - 123.0 µg/m3
Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)	26.0 µg/m3 - 64.0 µg/m3	20.0 µg/m3 - 131.0 µg/m3
Particulate Matter (PM10)	296 µg/m3 - 778 µg/m3	448 µg/m3 - 939 µg/m3
Particulate Matter (PM2.5)	184 µg/m3 - 369 µg/m3	180 µg/m3 - 440 µg/m3

            Source: Delhi Pollution Control Committee assessment.

In winter AQI normally goes higher.  But this year much before Diwali Delhi’s air was quite bad. With cracker bursting during Diwali high intensity emissions over a very short period just added to the existing pollutant factors. So what media has been trying to establish that contribution of Diwali to present smog situation is at best a minor add-on to pollution does not bear the truth. Experts comment that even if firecrackers are burst only for a day, they may leave a lingering impact on the air quality if the pollutants are not able to disperse easily due to temperature drop and low wind speed. Wind speed in post Diwali days was around 2 meters per second. In some places it dropped to less than 1 meter per second thus losing capacity to blow away the particulate matters. As a result, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide that were emitted from crackers from sulfur dioxide, cadmium, copper, lead, magnesium, nitrate, nitrite, potassium chlorate stuffed in them remained captive in Delhi air causing thick smog all around.

I fondly recall Delhi in 1989/’90. November was extremely pleasant. Day was hot though, a light sweater added comfort in the morning and evening. Cycles and scooters were still dominating road traffic along with Maruti 800.  Sub-cities like Rohini and Dwarka were a non-existence, Gurugram and Noida in NCR looked underdeveloped, while distant Vasant Kunj or Saket was a preferred place for low earning neo-migrants. Green areas were visible all around, sky high building was an attraction for Connaught Place or Nehru place. Crackers bursting till midnight was a festival on Diwali day but within a day or two the sky would turn clean for pollutants could easily blow way due to huge open space all across. Thanks to intense campaigns among the school children in the subsequent years, the volume of crackers bursting dropped down significantly, so was post-Diwali solid waste and air pollutions. During little over twenty five years since then Delhi’s sky line has changed. High rise buildings are visible all across the city. Forest covers and open space have diminished drastically. Together they all have restricted free air flow in NCR. Population has increased at a phenomenal rate. Financial capacity of the people has become stronger than before. Traffic has become thicker. Modernity and development has blown away the charm of November eventually over the years.

In today’s Delhi surrounded by concrete jungle all around air quality permanently stands above the danger level. When huge stock of crackers was burnt on the days of Diwali Delhi’s air was no way in the capacity to carry away the pollutants sent to it. Cracker bursting continued much beyond the permissible time limit with full knowledge of the law enforcing agencies. To quote a citizen’s response in social media, “In sub-city (referring to Dwarka) like ours where well educated people are living and recall Diwali night despite court order we have witnessed fire crackers till midnight and even beyond that”. Pollution in Delhi calls for public health emergency. Once sky is clear and this smog/dust settles in vegetables, fruits & the water bodies a health disaster is in all likelihood will break out in the city.

Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain and Helath Minister Kapil Mishra have appealed to provide them suggestions so that the Government can start working on the solutions. Many wonder, how is it that Delhi Government was not aware that the crackers carry highly pollutant substances and promulgation of a prohibitory order was very much within its jurisdiction and power. Once smog became visible the government could have commissioned sprinkling of water across the city through helicopters. This is unfortunate that AAP government too like its predecessors starts thinking about controlling pollution only after the levels cross danger mark.

An immediate decision to arrest this menace can be restricting cracker burning in all occasions, except in certain situations only in controlled environment with due permission. Laissez Faire approach to cracker purchase and burning has to be ended with immediate effect. Optimism is that, when the state machinery busy considering the steps and measures to tackle pollutions, a group of enlightened citizens of the Delhi NCR has knocked the door of the judiciary to secure the fundamental rights of the citizens to breathe fresh and pure air under the article 21 of the Constitution of India. Hope that pollution free air too will soon be brought within the purview of right to life.