Diwali is here but where are the ‘Green’ crackers?

Air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) took a hit following Dussehra celebrations and moved from the `satisfactory’ category to the `very poor’ in a period of just seven days this year.

The festival of Diwali will mark the penultimate in the celebratory fever that sweeps across India. Unfortunately, these celebrations end up converting our cities into gas chambers. No wonder, India has 16 out of 20 of the most polluted cities in the world today.

By the time Diwali is over, the Air Quality Index from NCR to Patna will have crossed the unprecedented 1000 figure as has happened in the past few years. Both the public and our authorities seem to be oblivious to the WHO stipulation that PM 5 and 10 levels should not exceed 40.

The most contentious issue remains on the use of green crackers as was directed by the Supreme Court last year. With barely two days to Diwali, Fireworks Traders Welfare Association points out that despite government claims, there are few green crackers available. To make matters worse, the Delhi Police have not issued too many licenses to firework vendors this year.

The government has not come up with any systematic campaign to dissuade people from fireworks with the majority believing that it is only the bursting of fireworks that will ensure a pleasurable Diwali.

Of course, there are some meteorological factors that have made winters in Delhi synonymous with pollution. A fall in wind speed and rise in moisture content prevent pollutants from dispersing in the atmosphere. This combined with farm fires caused by stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab results in a sharp spike in air pollution.

This year is no exception. Data from NASA and IIT Kanpur show that in 2019, incident of stubble burning in these states has increased by 177 per cent between Oct 12-19 over the average the week before.

Last Sunday, on October 20, over 1000 farm fires were spotted in the states of Punjab and Haryana according to NASA satellite data. Scientists from IIT Kanpur confirm that the last week of October up to mid-November will see air toxicity at its worst.

Dr Anumita Chaudhary, Executive Director and heading the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) pollution program concurs that this is a critical window that needs to be monitored 24x7.

Chaudhary said, `The Air Pollution Air Quality Index for Delhi last week was 312, in Noida it was 329 and in Gurugram 323, placing all three cities in the poor category.

Chaudhary said, `While NCR has a Comprehensive Action Plan for Pollution in place, their recommendations have to be implemented on a priority basis. These focus on increasing good public transport which will help ensure less usage of cars and most importantly to have a comprehensive waste management system in place so that garbage is disposed in an effective manner.’

Chandigarh based Jagir Singh Samra, who has been working on the problem of residual burning believes many profitable alternatives to stubble burning could have been made available to the farmers.

Sukhdev Singh Koki, General Secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said that all the farmers had been asking for was a monetary compensation of Rs 200 per ha for residue management but this was not forthcoming.

But if farm fires contribute to around 20 per cent of Delhi’s PM 2.5, then 80 per cent of air pollution is being generated from within this region. Vehicle exhaust, dust pollution, construction activities, industrial exhaust, domestic cooking and heating are the other key factors.

The IIT Kanpur in a recent study have established that road dust makes up over half of the coarser PM 10 pollutants and 38 per cent of PM 2.5 pollutants. Simple measures, IIT Kanpur scientists point out, like covering of open dust heaps, damping of soil, use of dust suppressants and vacuuming of roads will help curb this problem.

This has not been done in a systematic manner and saw the Delhi Pollution Control Committee impose heavy fines of Rs 50 lakh each on a number of government bodies including shamefully on the Public Works Department and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation after demolition and construction waste was found lying in areas where they were functioning.

The issue of private transport is complex. There is little doubt that diesel cars are more polluting than petrol cars with one diesel vehicle causing pollution equivalent to 40 petrol cars. This could be one of the reasons why Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has reembarked on his ambitious odd-even numbered scheme for all private vehicles between November 4 -15.

The aim of the exercise, the Delhi state government claims, is to ensure that half of Delhi’s nearly nine million vehicles remain off the roads on each day for this ten- day period.

The last time this exercise was conducted, the state government, as corroborated by the Central Pollution Control Board, points out that vehicular pollution levels came down by half.

There are other problems around this scheme which have not yet been dealt with. Transport experts believe that two wheelers comprising 54 per cent of Delhi’s vehicular fleet should also be kept off the road. Others believe no exemption should be made for women drivers.

To keep two wheelers off the road, the state government has to solve the last mile connectivity problem but there are simply not enough metro feeder buses as is being provided in other countries around the world. Nor has Kejriwal’s promotion of the use of bicycles taken off as he had anticipated.

There are other issues that also need immediate attention. Kejriwal had promised to augment the fleet of buses to boost service. This has not happened. New parking rates to dissuade the public from using private cars have also not kicked in.

Banning gen sets is another measure that has been kick started in Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad but since most of these townships are completely dependent on gen sets with their respective electricity boards unable to supply uninterrupted electricity, several housing societies have complained that this is a difficult order to implement.

Delhi petrol pumps have already introduced BS-VI which is at par with gasoline being sold in Europe. This is a welcome step but it is only when this is introduced across the country that this will be a game changer. The car industry is also in the process of making all their new cars BS VI compliant. This has raised the cost of cars.