Winter is coming, and, with it, the prospect of smoggy days in the national capital. A lot of preparations have been afoot to ensure that the air quality remains better than in previous years.
This year, the government discouraged farmers from growing the P 44 rice crop (a tall plant that produces a lot of crop waste). It has popularised in-situ bio-digesters, a solution that was designed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, and which converts crop stubble into biomass that can be ploughed back into the fields. The centre has also created a market for crop waste -- selling it as fodder to shepherds and cowherds in the Rajasthan -Kutch area (after fortifying it with other nutrients). Delhi has set up two smog towers, which act as giant air purifiers. Will then, residents be able to breathe easier this winter?
November is the worst month in terms of air quality in the capital when the region becomes a trap for heavily polluted air, which is unable to escape because of two features -- the absence of winds to blow away pollutants and temperature inversion as the cold weather sets in, which keep the pollutants at low levels. In addition, farmers across Punjab, Haryana and western UP burn their fields to clear crop stubble and prepare the land for the rabi crop. Topping the always-present industrial, vehicular, construction inputs to air pollution, the smoke from the fields worsens air quality. So much so that since 2016, schools have had to declare bad day holidays for students.
In the last few years, efforts have been focussed especially towards looking for solutions to the farm fires problem. The agriculture ministry developed machines that can plough the crop residue back into the fields and has started the process of making these machines available to farmers at easy rates or on rentals. The bio fertilisers is another solution, and around 15,000 acres in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are likely to be sprayed with this decomposer, which requires around three weeks to reduce straw to compost. According to the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region, Delhi has now completely switched to the use of PNG and cleaner fuels for all its 1,635 industrial units. However, in neighbouring states, the switch hasn't been complete. In Haryana, for instance, only 408 units of 1,469 have made the switch, in Rajasthan, 124 out of 436 have done so.
Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav has had meetings with ministers from neighbouring states to understand the air pollution preparedness levels and he told them that the efficacy of the enforcement and implementation by the states will determine the success of the Action Plan that has been drawn up.
On paper, the plan seems impressive with every contributor to bad air -- from construction activities to vehicular pollution -- being addressed. However, as previous years have shown, despite the best plans, the bad November air results in inter-state politics, with everyone accusing the other. Already, Delhi's environment minister Gopal Rai has pointed out that the efforts of the city-state to mitigate bad air are rather pointless unless the neighbouring states, too pitch in, in a big way. Rai's arguments are valid. Delhi government has banned the sale of firecrackers till next January. Does this mean a cracker free Diwali? Or will it only mean brisker sales across the border? Ultimately, the impact on the air will be the same.
However, it is not as if Delhi has all its bases covered. Rai accused neighbouring state governments of only distributing biodigester capsules, and not themselves taking over the task of conducting the spraying. Delhi, however, has contracted to spray for just 4,000 acres, while the area under cultivation is around 35,000 hectares. Admittedly, not all of this is under paddy cultivation. The point, however, is that the spraying will not cover all of Delhi's rice-growing fields.
Also, farmers point out every year that stubble burning lasts only for three to four weeks, but the bad air winter days continue into January, even February. So, while the focus on reducing straw burning is a much-needed intervention, other contributors to bad air, too, need new and timely solutions. The vehicular load in the capital has risen post the pandemic, with people preferring their vehicles to public transport. In the post-pandemic scenario, even the car rationing system, better known as the odd-even scheme, may not find ready takers. The two smog towers, the environment ministry officials themselves said, are experimental structures, and it is still too early to understand their efficacy.
The good news is that governments are taking steps at mitigating winter pollution, and have recognised that there have to be solutions at multiple levels. If these efforts improve the quality of air even marginally, at least it will show that the steps taken are in the right direction, and can be bettered with every passing year. the problem, however, is that Delhi is fast running out of time. As per the new standards announced by the World Health Organisation, the annual average levels of Particulate Matter 2.5 should not exceed 15 microgrammes per cubic centimetre, Delhi's levels are around 98. Satellite cities of Gurugram and Ghaziabad are in the same range, even though they are under two different state governments.