Clogged Delhi

The Supreme Court has been unsparing in its criticism over Delhi’s worsening Air Quality Index. On the Centre’s submission that stubble burning, in fact, is not a major cause of air pollution, and accounts for just 10 per cent of the emissions on an average through the year, the reprimand only got shriller. The cat is out of the bag, the Bench said. From the blame being deflected – ‘it has become a fashion to bash the farmers’ – to the litany of ‘lame excuses’ and
‘passing the buck’, the Centre and the Delhi government have been taken to task, as 75 per cent of the pollution was due to industry, dust and transport. The Commission for Air Quality Management, incidentally, puts the contribution of
stubble burning to the current air pollution at 35 per cent. A day after the Supreme Court lamented that, in the absence of executive action, it has to set the agenda over the high pollution level in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Commission for Air Quality Management deliberated on the matter on Tuesday, at the highest court’s bidding. The meeting, in which representatives from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi were present, saw these states making proposals to reduce pollution in the NCR. Of the few talking points that emerged after the deliberations, one is quite interesting – there is confusion over exactly how much stubble-burning in the neighbouring states contributes to pollution in the NCR. While the Delhi government blames the Diwali fireworks and stubble-burning for the steep rise in pollution, the Central Government has said stubble- burning contributes only 10 per cent to Delhi’s pollution. However, the Commission for Air Quality Management blamed farm fires for “35-40 per cent of total current pollution in the NCR”.

What is the actual math of AQI? We need to find the real causes for a real solution. For that, the Central and the state governments of the region must work in unison, enabling and empowering public institutions and local communities.

Irrespective of the contested numbers, stubble-burning remains a significant contributor to pollution, not only in the NCR but also in the industrial cities and towns of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, making lives of residents difficult. The governments involved must spare no cost to root out the problem, for the cost to the citizen’s health and the public health infrastructure is incalculable in comparison. Equipment such as a Straw Management System must be made available to the farmers across the region to deal with the residue from the previous crop.