Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena on Thursday took on the Delhi government over the deteriorating air quality, saying the city needs action, “not mere posturing”. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), the L-G described the Capital as a “gas chamber” where people are gasping for breath, adding that blaming others should not be an alibi for “gross inaction over the years”. He said air pollution “has become a recurrent issue subjected to nothing but platitude and rhetoric”.
Mr. Saxena’s comments came on a day when Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) deteriorated to the ‘severe’ category from ‘very poor’ registered a day earlier.
In response, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in a statement, said the Delhi government has taken a slew of measures over the past several years, leading to a significant improvement in the air quality, “which was appreciated in the Economic Survey 2022-2023 tabled in Parliament.”
The party said some of the Delhi government’s emergency response measures, such as the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign and the odd-even vehicle-rationing scheme, have had a significant impact in reducing vehicular pollution.
However, the L-G slammed the emergency measures, calling them “hyped events”. He also criticised the AAP government in Punjab over the issue of farm fires.
“We can do little to stop crop residue smoke from other States apart from pleading with them. Despite States, especially Punjab, playing truant, we are but petitioners for mercy. The AQI yet hovers around 400, making the Capital gasp,” Mr. Saxena said.
He also said that the city’s poor living in slums and unauthorised colonies are suffering the most as they cannot afford to buy air purifiers and sit at home.
“The real solution to pollution lies in Delhi itself. We can mitigate the choking smog by reducing the dust that our unrepaired roads, unpaved pavements, and construction sites cause. We can employ effective means to curb our vehicular emissions,” he added.
AAP has on several occasions claimed that crop residue smoke has come down significantly in Punjab since it came to power in the State in 2022. The State reported more than 1,200 stubble-burning incidents on Thursday, taking the total number of such cases in this season to 31,932.
Pollution sources
According to the Central government’s Ministry of Earth Sciences data for November 15, biomass (stubble) burning in the neighbouring States was the biggest contributor (24.3%) to Delhi’s air pollution, followed by vehicular emissions (13%).
However, the Delhi government’s real-time source apportionment study for the same day found vehicular emissions to have contributed more (38%) towards air pollution than biomass (stubble) burning (23%). It also found that secondary aerosols — particles such as sulfate and nitrate that are formed in the atmosphere due to the interaction of gases and particulate pollutants from sources like power plants, refineries, and vehicles — are the second major contributor to the city’s air pollution (30%).
An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’, and 451 and 500 ‘severe plus’.
Task force formed
Meanwhile, Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said a six-member special task force has been constituted to ensure strict implementation and monitoring of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) rules.
The Special Secretary (Environment) will head the task force, whose members include senior officials from the departments of Transport, Traffic, Revenue, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and Public Works Department.
