imla’s eyes burn and a cough escapes her throat as she prepares lunch for her children on a bright winter’s day. A stay-at-home mother, Simla cooks and heats water for bathing in a big pot over a wood fire at least three times a day.
“It takes a while and it makes me cough, but if the fire goes out then I’m in big trouble,” she says as she fans the flames.
Simla and her neighbours at Valmiki Nagar in Central Delhi either completely rely on or supplement their limited supply of LPG cylinders with wood and coal-powered chulhas (stoves). They say the Delhi government’s scheme to distribute LPG cylinders, to make the Capital kerosene-free, never reached their slum.
It’s a tough life and to make matters worse Simla’s reliance on fire-wood for cooking and domestic chores makes her, according to IIT-Kanpur’s recent analysis of the sources of pollution in Delhi, a significant contributor to the city’s fine particulate matter (PM2.5) load. The draft report of the source apportionment study, which was submitted to the Delhi government in November, finds that 12 per cent of all PM2.5 comes from domestic fuel burning.
Katori, who is one of the few residents in the slum to own a cylinder, says she had to save up for almost two years to be able to buy the LPG cylinder for Rs.7,000 in the black market.
“The one cylinder isn’t enough. So we make rotis on the traditional chulha. We would like to switch to LPG completely, but the government hasn’t made it affordable for us,” she says.
Residents of the slum are among the 3.22 lakh households in Delhi that cook using non-LPG fuels, including coal, wood, crop residue, kerosene and cow dung cakes. Of the 33.40 lakh households surveyed for the 2011 Census, 9.43 per cent of urban and 24.58 per cent of rural homes in Delhi used fuels other than LPG for their cooking needs.“There are issues of energy access and availability that need to be kept in mind in the Indian context. We need to switch over to cleaner fuels, mainly electricity,” says Ashwani Kumar, the Secretary of the Delhi government’s environment department.
Though Delhi was declared ‘kerosene-free’ in June 2014, the reality in thousands of households across the city is different. Under the scheme that was launched in August 2012, below-poverty-line (BPL) households were supposed to get LPG cylinders free of charge – with oil companies and the government splitting the cost.
But, since many of the intended beneficiaries lack ration and BPL cards – the documents needed to apply for the scheme – they have been unable to get the free cylinders.
A report by an autonomous research institute, Integrated Research and Action for Development, found that of the 3,56,000 eligible households, 2,14,149 applied for the scheme, and 20,732 were rejected. The survey found that more than half of the households said “poor financial status” was the reason they couldn’t move to a cleaner fuel.
“Fifty-five per cent of households never attempted to obtain a legal LPG connection because they could not afford the upfront costs. Also, 33 per cent respondents mentioned their unawareness about the procedure involved to obtain a legal LPG connection,” said the report.
While Delhi government officials have admitted that the scheme left out many, there doesn’t appear to be a solution in sight. Environmentalists say the government needs to expand its clean energy programme.
“Apart from outdoor pollution, women end up getting exposed to smoke and this is a matter of concern. Delhi needs to speed up its plan to give LPG connections to poor households and road-side restaurants that were not included in the kerosene-free scheme,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, head of the Centre for Science and Environment’s clean air programme.
Meanwhile, doctors have warned against prolonged exposure to smoke produced by fossil-fuel burning. “Burning of coal and wood is causing asthma and chronic bronchitis among women and children as they are exposed to the smoke for long durations. In rural areas, it is the burning of cow dung cakes that is pushing asthma cases up,” says Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, of the Indian Medical Association.
The one LPG cylinder isn’t enough. So we make rotis on the traditional chulha (stove). We would like to switch to LPG completely, but the government hasn’t made it affordable for usKatori,Resident of Valmiki Nagar
Many have not been able to avail of Delhi govt’s LPG scheme as they do not have the required papers
