New Delhi:

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced on Thursday that the government will implement a 21-point Winter Action Plan to combat air pollution, featuring real-time drone monitoring of pollution hotspots and the creation of a special task force to tackle worsening air quality during the colder months.

Speaking at a press conference following a high-level meeting with representatives from 35 departments, Gopal Rai emphasised that the government is adopting a proactive approach this year.

“This year, for the first time, we will be using drones to monitor pollution at 13 major hotspots across Delhi. A special task force will also be formed to tackle air pollution more effectively. These measures are part of our 21-point plan to ensure a cleaner winter for the residents of Delhi,” Gopal Rai said.

The winter action plan will focus on key issues such as vehicular pollution, dust, stubble burning, and industrial emissions, among others, Gopal Rai said. Each department involved has been given specific tasks and has been directed to submit its action plan by September 12.

In addition to drone monitoring and task force creation, the plan also outlines measures such as promoting work-from-home policies, preparing for the odd-even vehicle scheme, and exploring the possibility of inducing artificial rain to settle pollutants.

The government has also committed to upgrading its Green War Room and Green Delhi App, used for real-time pollution monitoring and citizen complaints, he said.

A joint meeting was held with 35 key departments including Environment Department, Delhi Police, Public Works Department (PWD), Transport Department, Delhi Metro, and various other agencies. The departments were assigned responsibilities for areas such as dust pollution control, stubble burning prevention and enhancing green cover in the city.

During the press conference, Gopal Rai also highlighted the significant progress Delhi has made in recent years, noting that pollution levels have dropped by 30 per cent in the last nine years, thanks to the Kejriwal government’s sustained efforts. He cited the increase in the number of “good” to “moderate” air quality days from 110 in 2016 to 206 in 2023 as evidence of this progress.

“This action plan will expand on our previous 15-point plan from last year and bring in new areas of focus. Our goal is to build on the successes we’ve achieved and further reduce pollution during the critical winter months,” he added.

The 21-point action plan includes stricter controls on vehicle emissions, more extensive dust management practices, and initiatives to curb open burning of garbage and industrial waste.

The Environment Department will act as the nodal agency for coordinating these efforts across departments, while a real-time source apportionment study will help identify and address pollution sources as they arise.

Additionally, Gopal Rai also stressed the need for collaboration with neighbouring states and the central government to tackle cross-border pollution issues, particularly the impact of stubble burning in surrounding regions.

“Dialogue with the Centre and neighbouring states is a crucial part of our plan. This is not a problem Delhi can solve alone,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

More than seven percent of all deaths in 10 of India’s biggest cities are linked to air pollution, a large study said Thursday, leading researchers to call for action to save tens of thousands of lives a year.

Smog-filled Indian cities including the capital Delhi suffer from some of the world’s worst air pollution, choking the lungs of residents and posing a rising threat to health still being revealed by researchers.

For the new study, an Indian-led team looked at the levels of cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla and Varanasi.

From 2008 to 2019, more than 33,000 deaths a year could be attributed to PM2.5 exposure above the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 15 micrograms per cubic metre, the study said.

That represents 7.2 percent of the recorded deaths in those cities during that period, according to the study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.

India’s capital Delhi was the worst offender, with 12,000 annual deaths linked to air pollution — or 11.5 percent of the total.

But even cities where air pollution is not thought to be as bad — such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai — had high death rates, the researchers emphasised.

They called for India’s air quality standards to be toughened.

The country’s current recommendation is 60 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre, which is four times higher than the WHO’s guidelines.

Lowering and enforcing the limit “will save tens of thousands of lives per year,” study co-author Joel Schwartz of Harvard University said.

“Methods for controlling pollution exist and are used elsewhere. They urgently need to be applied in India,” he said in a statement.

The WHO says that almost everyone on Earth breathes in more than the recommended amount of air pollution, which can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to the “very poor” category today, and is predicted to worsen further due to unfavourable meteorological conditions, according to weather monitoring agencies.

The city’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 301 at 12 noon, worsening from 261 on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

The AQI was 286 in neighbouring Ghaziabad, 268 in Faridabad, 248 in Gurugram, 284 in Noida, and 349 in Greater Noida.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

According to the Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the city’s air quality deteriorated to the ‘very poor’ category due to slow wind speed at night and a dip in temperatures.

The air quality is expected to remain very poor till the end of the month, it said.

Unfavourable meteorological conditions and a cocktail of emissions from firecrackers and paddy straw burning, in addition to local sources of pollution, push Delhi-NCR’s air quality to hazardous levels during winter.

According to an analysis conducted by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the capital experiences peak pollution from November 1 to November 15 when stubble burning incidents in Punjab and Haryana peak.

While Delhi is facing a sharp decline in air quality in the coming days, crucial data that helped the government prepare a strategy to mitigate the air pollution problem is missing.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences’ System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research, which provided data about the contribution of smoke from farm fires to Delhi’s air pollution, has not been providing updates, and associated officials are unaware of the reason.

“We are not aware of why updates on the SAFAR portal have stopped,” said an official at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, which operates the website. Similarly, data from the Decision Support System, a numerical model-based framework capable of identifying sources of particulate matter pollution in Delhi, isn’t accessible to the general public anymore.

Recently, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the city government’s study to determine pollution sources in the national capital has been halted “unilaterally and arbitrarily” on the orders of DPCC Chairman Ashwani Kumar.

The Delhi government had last month launched a 15-point action plan to mitigate air pollution in the capital during the winter season, with a strong emphasis on addressing dust pollution, vehicular emissions, and the open burning of garbage.

Special drives to check dust, vehicular and industrial pollution are already underway in the city.

In keeping with the practice of the last three years, Delhi had last month announced a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and use of firecrackers within the city.

A public awareness campaign, ‘Patakhe Nahi Diye Jalao,’ will soon be reintroduced to discourage firecracker burning.

The government has also prepared a pollution mitigation plan for each of the 13 identified pollution hotspots — Narela, Bawana, Mundka, Wazirpur, Rohini, R K Puram, Okhla, Jahangirpuri, Anand Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Mayapuri, Dwarka.

Rai recently said the government has identified eight more pollution hotspots in addition to the existing 13 in the national capital and special teams will be deployed there to check pollution sources.

He said the government has also decided to use suppressant powder to prevent dust pollution in the city.

Dust suppressants could include chemical agents like calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, lignosulfonates and various polymers. These chemicals work by attracting and binding fine dust particles together, making them too heavy to become airborne.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi government’s first-of-its-kind study to determine pollution sources in the national capital has been halted unilaterally and arbitrarily on the orders of Delhi Pollution Control Committee Chairman (DPCC) Ashwani Kumar, alleged city Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday.

In a press conference, Mr Rai said the Delhi Cabinet had approved the study proposal in July 2021 and signed an MoU with IIT-Kanpur in October 2022.

“The estimated cost was over Rs 12 crore. The Delhi government had released Rs 10 crore to IIT-Kanpur for the procurement of necessary equipment and set up a centralised supersite for data collection,” he said.

The minister claimed that Ashwani Kumar, who took up the role of DPCC chairman in December, made a file note in February this year, expressing concerns about the “substantial expenses associated with the study”.

Following several meetings with IIT-Kanpur scientists, Kumar issued orders on October 18 to stop the release of the remaining funds to IIT Kanpur, effectively cancelling the study, Mr Rai said.

“It’s very unfortunate that such a decision has been made at a time when Delhi urgently needs scientific data to address its pollution problem. Kumar put the lives of two crore residents of Delhi at risk,” he lamented.

The minister said Mr Kumar also did not inform him or the Cabinet about his decision and that his actions were in gross violation of the Transaction of Business Rules.

In a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Rai demanded that Mr Kumar be suspended for his “insensitive and irresponsible behaviour”.

According to Mr Rai, Mr Kumar was convinced that the source of Delhi’s pollution has to be internal factors and cannot be majorly attributed to outside factors such as biomass (stubble) burning.

“He does not put forth any scientific basis for his conclusions. As the IIT-Kanpur report does not align with his idea of what causes pollution in Delhi, he is willing to sabotage the entire project with no care or concern for the people of Delhi and no respect for scientific research,” Mr Rai wrote in the letter.

“Kumar has been seeking validation of the scientific models employed by Kanpur. Despite multiple meetings with IIT-Kanpur and their responses explaining their validation model, he keeps rejecting the scientific work done by one of the most prestigious institutes of our country,” he added.

Mr Rai urged the chief minister that the remaining payment be immediately released to IIT-Kanpur and said the Delhi government will ask prominent scientists to review the pollution source apportionment study results after winter.

The Delhi environment minister alleged that Mr Kumar is a “habitual delinquent” when it comes to routine government business and there have been serious complaints against him from other departments where he holds positions of power.

It is a very important matter that needs to be investigated at the earliest. By halting a study of this magnitude and importance which is crucial for bringing Delhi’s air quality to ambient levels, Mr Kumar has endangered the life, health and public safety of the residents of Delhi, Mr Rai alleged.

He said that a government servant is duty-bound to protect the life and health of the citizens. “It is far beyond shocking that his acts and omissions are further complicating the health status of the residents of Delhi and are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the study does not reach its conclusion and implementation.” Mr Kumar’s act is squarely culpable under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, Mr Rai claimed in the letter.

Real-time source apportionment studies help identify factors responsible for an increase in air pollution at any spot, such as vehicles, dust, biomass burning, and emissions from industries so that preventive measures can be taken accordingly.

At the press conference, Services Minister Atishi said the source apportionment study was a major milestone and that it was impractical to prepare a mitigation plan without knowing which sources contribute how much to Delhi’s pollution.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

A blanket of mist enveloped Mumbai on Wednesday, pushing the city’s air to the ‘moderate’ category on the Air Quality Index (AQI). The phenomenon has been there for the last three to four days, said officials.

According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology-managed System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), at 6 pm on Wednesday, the PM10 level in Mumbai’s air was 143 as against 122 in Delhi.

Mumbai’s guardian minister Deepak Kesarkar claimed that ongoing works of development projects such as metro were causing dust pollution in the city.

“There is availability of moisture, anti-cyclonic wind circulation which does not allow the wind to ascend. The anti-cyclone is right over Mumbai,” said India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientist Sushma Nair, adding that moisture gets stuck in the air due to it.

However, with deteriorating air levels come respiratory illnesses, said medical professionals.

Dr Rajesh Sharma, mentor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital, said that commonly when the quality of air is very poor, it has a lot of particulate matter (PM), gases, and chemicals used in buildings – for furniture being made or polish and painting works.

“When the air quality is really bad, and people are constantly inhaling this (poor air), they tend to develop bronchitis. There is a definite correlation between poor air quality and worsening symptoms ranging from cough, breathlessness, and wheezing, over a period of time,” Sharma said.

Poor quality of air is associated with significant health issues, and the most susceptible are the elderly, those who are very young, and people who venture out when the quality of the air is the worst, he said.

Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar conceded that air pollution has increased in the city.

It was not a chemical pollution, he said while talking to reporters at the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Works of metro, bridges as well as real estate projects are going on in the city, he said.

“The pollution in Mumbai is not a chemical pollution, it is mostly dust pollution,” Kesarkar said, adding that authorities are looking for ways to curb it.

Fogging machines have been installed for controlling pollution in neighbouring Thane, and officials were checking if such machines, besides pollutant absorbing machines, can be installed in Mumbai, the minister said.

The government was also thinking of appointing an agency like IIT Bombay to study the feasibility of replacing hand carts with battery- operated vehicles which will help handcart pullers and reduce traffic congestion in central Mumbai, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Delhi, which is among the world’s most polluted cities, kickstarted its action plan to combat air pollution today just hours after the air quality in the national capital plunged to the ‘poor’ category. Some parts of Delhi also recorded an AQI of above 300, which is categorised as ‘severe’.

The first stage of the Centre’s graded response action plan (GRAP) to check air pollution in Delhi during the winter came into effect today. ‘Visibly polluting’ vehicles will now attract a heavy fine, while trucks not destined for the national capital will be diverted through the eastern and western peripherals.

Stage 1 mandates the suspension of work at private construction and demolition projects with a plot size equal to or exceeding 500 sqm that is not registered on the state government’s portal for remote monitoring of dust mitigation measures. Anti-smog guns will be used at construction and demolition sites.

Authorities will also enforce a complete ban on the use of coal and firewood in tandoors at hotels, restaurants, and open eateries.

Ban on ‘burning activities’ at landfill sites is also part of stage 1.

Delhi in the last 24 hours recorded an AQI of 212, which is considered ‘Poor’.

Every year, the national capital battles eye-stinging smog and severely toxic air during the winters. This is caused majorly by crop residue burning in neighbouring states and emissions from firecrackers during Diwali worsening the situation.

For years, hospitals in Delhi have been teeming with people suffering from cough, nasal congestion, shortness of breath, and even asthma attacks during winter. While doctors advise people to wear a mask to guard against the pollution, authorities have been trying to find ways to be better prepared for the situation.

Delhi has banned the production, storage, sale, and bursting of firecrackers this Diwali. Those caught violating the ban would be fined and jailed for six months.