A traffic lockdown may be what Delhi requires
Now that the Supreme Court has asked for action against toxic NCR air, let’s try keeping streets free of vehicular exhaust for a bit. Data on the effects could sharpen India’s response
On Monday, India’s Supreme Court described air pollution in and around Delhi city as a “crisis" and asked the Centre and Delhi administration to take action. With air quality index (AQI) readings in a toxic zone for over a week, this is imperative. Suffocation anxiety being expressed and hands being wrung over smog at this time of the year had attained such ritual regularity that a push for solutions was at risk of getting smothered by resignation to this fate. By making suggestions, our apex court has placed the issue upfront again. On Saturday, it had asked our authorities to consider a “lockdown", among other measures. In response, Delhi has for a few days closed schools, banned construction, let state employees work from home and advised private employers to follow. It was ready for a “complete lockdown", the Delhi government told the court, but added this would not be effective unless adjoining states did likewise in the rest of the urban sprawl that makes up the national capital region (NCR). The top court advised the Centre to call an emergency meeting and work out specific ways to tackle the identified “culprits": construction activity, industry, transport, power and vehicular traffic, apart from stubble burning.
Various attempts have been made in the past. Building projects, for example, are frequently brought to a halt in this season with little noticeable impact on the NCR’s air quality. Curbs on firecrackers, diesel gen-sets and so on have also been tried. Momentary restrictions on industrial exhaust and sweet deals for farmers to stop setting their post-harvest waste on fire have not had much to show either. As for local-area initiatives, smog towers and water spraying have revealed themselves to be too little up against too much. The most controversial of ideas so far has been the road-rationing that Delhi tested five years ago, when only vehicles with odd number-plates were allowed on streets one day and even numbers the next. The results of that experiment ran into a data fog with conflicting interpretations, but the fact that an odd-even road policy was not deployed again sums up its problem: It did not prove helpful enough to justify the disruption caused. Yet, hardened by stiff lockdowns to contain covid last summer, we might find that a worthy purpose is served by a full traffic lockdown of the NCR as we confront our pollution season.
Street emissions have always been held up as Delhi’s chief suffocator. By the analysis of the Centre for Science and Environment, vehicular exhaust accounts for about half the seasonal rise in the capital’s levels of pollutant particles no larger than 2.5 microns across, the worst kind. If so, then a traffic freeze for about a week or so, depending on the smoke dispersal of winds, should effect a notable reduction. If industrial sources of fumes are gagged too (with stop-gap supplies in place), and we still have worse air than expected, then we would at least have data from a real-life test to sharpen our search for solutions. The extent to which farm fires are to blame remains contested. In court, solicitor general Tushar Mehta cited a 10% estimate for stubble burning’s share of bad emissions as an average over the year, a figure that should evoke consternation because almost all of it occurs within the span of just a few weeks. Whatever the reality, a smokescreen thrown over the issue by divergent political interests must not keep us from acting both broadly and accurately against the menace of toxic air.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!