As soon as the month of October arrived in Delhi, the air started getting polluted. The level of Air Quality Index (AQI) started deteriorating and the Supreme Court had to say that this is an emergency-like situation. But does the Delhi government, the central government and the governments of the states falling within the National Capital Region (NCR) adjacent to Delhi have any solution to deal with this? This is a million dollar question, to which the very clear answer is that all these governments have no answer and the people of Delhi and NCR are doomed to breathe suffocating air for the next three months. During this time, every few days, news will come that the High Court or the Supreme Court has reprimanded the governments, reprimanded the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), an organization set up for the management of air quality, and scolded the officials of the Pollution Board and air pollution. Asked to take measures to deal with the problem.
Meanwhile, articles will be written in newspapers and concern will be expressed over the problem of air pollution. Governments will fight among themselves and hold each other responsible for pollution. Pictures and news of Delhi Government’s ‘Green War Room’, famous for its spectacles, will be published in newspapers. There will also be religious and cultural discussions regarding firecrackers and in the meantime three months will pass. Then everyone will breathe a sigh of relief and this problem will be left for discussion from October to December next year.
Come to think of it, this has become an annual cycle. If the issue of air pollution continues between October and December, then in May and June the issue of heatwave, heatwave and power shortage continues. After this, in July and August, there is the issue of water logging and traffic problems due to non-cleaning of drains and rains. All these problems last for two or three months and then everything is forgotten. The public’s memory is anyway very weak. He is always faced with so many immediate problems related to his life that he cannot think much about collective problems. Parties, governments and institutions take advantage of this.
The example of goldfish is given regarding memory. The memory of a goldfish is so short that if it is kept in a small jar, then when it turns from one end of the jar to the other, it will look at the first end as if it is seeing it for the first time. Same is the condition of the people of Delhi and more or less the rest of the country. They see or discuss air pollution every winter as if it is happening for the first time.
Governments are aware of this mentality of common people. That’s why when the matter reached the Supreme Court before the beginning of the month of October this year and the court described the situation as emergency, then the measures given by the Delhi government to deal with it were exactly the same which the government had told the court last year. Or which were implemented in Delhi. In this, several categories of GRAP i.e. Graded Response Action Plan were explained. That is, if AQI is bad then what things and activities will be stopped, if it is serious then what work will be stopped and if it is dangerous then the last level of GRAP will be implemented, under which most of the activities will be stopped.
In this, it was told by Delhi Government that odd even can also be implemented. That means, on one day, odd numbered vehicles will run and on the next day, even numbered vehicles will run. The Commission for Air Quality Management said that it has asked 10 thousand factories to be closed. No one knows how many of these have been closed and if they have not been closed then no one knows how the pollution will be reduced.
Meanwhile, like every year, a debate has started on how much of the contribution of stubble burning in neighboring states, how much of smoke coming from factories and how much of vehicle smoke is responsible for worsening the air quality. And what is the share of biomass burning. Data has also been extracted as to what is the share of Delhi i.e. NCT in air pollution and what is the share of National Capital Region i.e. NCR. But the question is, what will the common man do with all this information? Even if NCR is left aside, the share of Delhi Metropolitan or Delhi NCT in air pollution is only 2.5 percent, will this provide relief to the people of Delhi?
Will the people of Delhi get relief by telling that the source of pollution in Delhi is the NCR area or stubble burning in neighboring states, Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh? This information does not make the slightest difference to the actual situation.
Similarly, nothing is achieved by imposing odd-even just for the sake of show and unnecessarily putting people in trouble. Everyone knows that the solution of banning construction works is not effective at all. Still the government will take the same measure. This also makes it clear that the government does not have to solve the problem, but has to be seen making efforts for the solution. He knows that people will forget everything in three months. Therefore, she will be seen performing various stunts for three months. From installing smog towers to banning polluting vehicles and factories and promoting battery-powered EV vehicles and giving subsidies on them, there will be discussion and both the central and state governments will emerge as its champions.
But in the end the problem will still stand there. In reality, such cosmetic or immediate measures are not effective in dealing with the problem of air pollution in the capital Delhi and NCR. For this, a big long-term plan will have to be made, which will involve huge expenditure. No government will be ready for this. This is not a matter of Delhi Government or Central Government alone.
Unless all the governments falling under the ambit of NCR come together and make an action plan, this problem cannot be solved. But no one has the intention to think hard, take trouble and find a permanent solution to the problem. Everyone has to spend three months. Everyone passes the time through a variety of ad-hoc policies. That is why after independence, every problem of India has increased manifold with time. If it is resolved then perhaps there is no problem.