Graded plan may help control Delhi air pollution

Experts say besides implementing an emergency plan, voluntary public involvement is the need of the hour.

 

NEW DELHI: As winter draws near, this year again Delhi has witnessed its air quality plunging to “poor” and “very poor”. Due to the deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) in the capital city, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) has come into force since Tuesday. GRAP includes rolling out stricter measures depending on the situation to discourage private vehicles on roads, stop use of diesel generators and close brick kilns and stone crushers.

Anumita Roy Chowdhury, programme coordinator at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), told The Sunday Guardian: “The GRAP comes into force only during winter. It is an emergency plan. The winter emergency plan means we know that during winter, the weather is going to play up. Due to adverse weather conditions, the pollution generated during this season will get trapped in the city. It is in this view that the GRAP is implemented so that we don’t add to the pollution already circulating in the city’s air.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) database of 2018, Delhi is one of the 20 highest polluted cities in the world. However, the average annual concentration of particulate matter has taken a dip in the city in the last five years.

According to data of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), in Delhi’s air, the primary pollutants are PM 2.5 (inhalable particles of diameter 2.5 micrometre and smaller) and PM10 (10 micrometre and smaller). The DPCC data shows that in 2014, the annual average of concentration of PM 2.5 was 148 micrograms per cubic metre; it came down 20% to 128 micrograms/cubic metre in 2018.

Similarly, in case of PM 10, the annual average has declined from 324 micrograms per cubic metre to 277 micrograms/cubic metre in 2018.

“Apart from these temporary emergency measures, several permanent measures have been introduced in Delhi. These systemic measures include clean fuel transition, ban on furnishing oil and coal in all sectors of Delhi, and pulling shutters of coal power plants. By introducing these measures, air pollution has been reducing in Delhi,” Chowdhury added.

Despite the fact that Delhi has been able to curb air pollution over the years, it still has the worst air quality. Apart from pollutant particles releasing from vehicles and industries, stubble burning in neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also adds to the worsening air condition in Delhi.

However, according to the experts, the stubble burning adds only 4% to 9% to Delhi’s air pollution.

Dr Lalit Mohan, executive director of the Society for Environment and Development, told The Sunday Guardian: “The GRAP is good to reduce the alarming situation. However, public involvement (voluntarily) is the need of the hour, as every citizen has responsibility towards the environment.”