The clean air challenge

Delhi can learn from its leapfrog to CNG to win the battle for clean skies and clear lungs

- SUNITA NARAIN

It’s that time of the year again, and people of Delhi and its neighbouring areas are waiting for the sky to fall—literally. The cold is setting in. With the slowing wind, the pollutants already in the air will settle down. We will not be able to breathe. We can only hope and pray that the wind and rain Gods bring us relief. This is because we have not done anything of consequence to combat pollution over the years.

The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was supposed to be an emergency alert system, aimed to take urgent steps when pollution peaked. It has become the only time we act, which, obviously, is too little and too late. Now we are being told that the government will play God—clouds will be seeded so that we can have rain to wash away the pollutants. This is when it is well understood that pollutants get trapped in moisture, which could add to our misery.