Capital rolls out steps to combat pollution crisis

The Delhi government will amp up the frequency of public transit services, increase the use of dust suppressants and target anti-pollution efforts at eight more hot spots across the city as part of measures to combat the Capital’s pollution levels, environment minister Gopal Rai said on Monday following an emergency meeting of 28 departments convened a day after the city’s air quality index (AQI) spiralled into the “very poor” zone for the first time this season.

- Paras Singh

The measures also include deploying more police personnel at major intersections, ground staff using water sprinklers while sweeping, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) hiring more private buses to encourage the use of public transport, as well as the resurrection of the “Red Light On, Gaadi Off” campaign that encourages motorists to turn their vehicles’ engines off at traffic signals.

“The weather is not in our control, but the sources of pollution can be controlled to ensure the impact on people’s health is minimised,” Rai said after the meeting on Monday afternoon as he detailed the gamut of steps that the government had decided to take to prevent a recurrence of the annual pollution scourge.

The government’s intervention came a day after Delhi’s AQI on Sunday worsened to 313, in the “very poor” zone, giving the city its worst air since May.

On Monday, the AQI improved to 263 (“poor” zone), thanks to bright sunshine that raised the ground temperature and stronger winds that swept through the Capital, helping wash away some of the previous day’s pollutants. However, experts said this does not signal any major reprieve from the toxic air, and that pollution gauges will only tick upwards over the next few weeks.

The air quality in Delhi takes a dramatic downturn every year in late October and early November as local temperatures begin to dip and noxious smoke from farm fires in upwind agrarian states envelopes the city, making the Capital one of the world’s most polluted cities. However, farm fires this season have not yet seen a spike that they generally do this time of the year, with local sources contributing to a bulk of the a pollution.