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Delhi tops the grim pollution charts released by a World Bank and Asian Development Bank joint study of air pollution for 20 major Asian cities between 2000 and 2003. For most hazardous of particles — PM10, which can even penetrate a face mask — New Delhi has three times more than Hong Kong.
The fact that particulate matter has had a downward curve in Delhi over
four years is because of the success of the CNG programme. Experts feel that this is not enough and if a city like Delhi deals only with technology of vehicles and fuels, the effects will get nullified very soon.
The growing number of vehicles and poor inspection and maintenance of in-use vehicles can completely undo the effects of.
Contrast it with Delhi’s situation where 10,000 cars are being added every
month. See White paper on Pollution in Delhi, Govt. of India |
Pride of Delhi
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The CNN-IBN Outlook State of the Environment Poll
( published in June 5, 2008) asked citizens of six cities across India how they felt for the environment and
environment- related issues.
In fact all those polled in Delhi also voted air pollution was their number one
woe. “Pollution is getting to us and we need to find a solution,” says Center for
Science and Environment, Sunita Narain. If people were given a choice what is the one environmental issue they would
want government to address, a whopping 86 per cent of the people want the
government to plant trees, followed by reducing air pollution, providing clean
drinking water, cleaning up rivers, collecting and segregating garbage and
finally improving public transport. “Why cant bureaucrats and politicians car-pool,” asks environment activist Leo
Saldhana
But are things set to improve? The survey shows, people aren't very hopeful.
Seventy-seven per cent of respondents said air pollution would increase in the
next five years. Seventy per cent said noise pollution would rise and 65 per cent feared water
would get more polluted.
Randeep Guleria, a chest specialist at the All-India Institute of Medical
Sciences, the country's largest public hospital, said the high pollution level
triggered asthma in people where the condition previously had been latent.
"We are seeing a lot of such patients, who did not have any problems when they
were outside and when they move to Delhi they suddenly develop symptoms," he
said.
In a survey of almost 12,000 city schoolchildren late last year, 17 per cent
reported coughing, wheezing or breathlessness, compared to just 8 per cent of
children in a rural area. |
4.5 million registered vehicles with 1,000 being added every
day in Delhi
The planned launch of the world's smallest car, the Nano has further heightened concerns about increased congestion in the city
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Children across the country are exposed to lead poisoning even in their homes, according to a study conducted by an environmental NGO, which was unveiled on
June 4, 2008: The organisation, Toxics Link, found alarmingly high levels of lead in household dust in New Delhi, with wall paint being the main source.
Dust wipe samples were collected from floors and window sills in 57 households in Delhi — and 31% of the samples of floor dust and 14% of the window sill dust samples contained levels of lead that would be considered hazardous by the US Environment Protection Agency. "While the study, ‘Dusty toxics: A study on lead in household dust in Delhi,' has been done in only one city, the situation is likely to be similar in other Indian cities.
Lead is a highly toxic heavy metal, and once ingested, it remains within the body and can affect the blood, brain, nerves and intestines. "It can show up as
anemia or abdominal pain in children. At low levels there is a subtle change in
behavior with the child becoming hyperactive or drowsy. It also affects a child's attention span," says Dr
Balasubramanian, senior consultant (pediatrics), Child's Trust Hospital, and president of the Indian Academy of
Pediatrics, Chennai.
Delhi is also one of the few Indian cities to have done more than
its fair share to cut air pollution in the last six years. Polluting industries have been relocated, government buses, three-wheelers, and
taxis run on CNG, 15-year-old commercial vehicles are off roads and there is a
tighter control on power plants, but none of this is able to combat 4.5 million
registered vehicles with 1,000 being added every day. Again an ever increasing number of diesel vehicles and the future looks completely dismal.
The planned launch of
Nano
The planned launch of the world's smallest car, the Nano, by India's Tata Motors
has further heightened concerns about increased congestion in the city even
though it is only producing a petrol version. The makers of the car, meant to retail for 100,000 rupees ($2,900), insist its
emissions are as low or lower than any two-wheeler on Indian roads and meet
European standards. Sunita Narain, who directs the Centre for Science and Environment, says that's
only half the point. "I am not fighting the small car," she said. "I am simply asking for many more buses and bus lanes - a complete change in
mobility."
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Air monitoring stations
With Delhi fast becoming the most polluted city in South Asia, the Central Pollution Control Board has decided to install three more air monitoring stations here to update air quality data every 15 minutes. The equipment, costing around Rs 80 lakh each, would be installed at India
Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Dilshad Garden, Netaji Subash Institute of Technology in Dwarka and third one is proposed at Delhi Milk Scheme in Patel Nagar, all highly polluted areas.
"The continuous pollution monitoring devices are being set up in the new three locations witnessing sudden spurt in population, unmonitored industrial areas as well sharp growth in vehicular and human population in these areas," said the CPCB Director Mr S D
Makhijani. The new systems to be installed by the Board inaugurated on June 5,
2008 on the occasion of World Environment Day. Presently four continuous air quality stations are functioning from Siri Fort, ITO, Delhi College of Engineering in Rohini and through a mobile van that is stationed as per need.
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The air pollution in Delhi is also
due to near by industrial smoke. A permanent haze of cement dust hanging over the air
due to the construction of malls and high-rises.
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Gurgaon,
the suburb of Delhi has long been celebrated as a shining example of a vibrant, flourishing,
21st- century India. But last month it presented itself as a showcase of the grave environmental crisis that stares India in the face. Residents of this Delhi suburb, faced with crippling power and water shortages, disappearing green cover, and a permanent haze of cement dust hanging over the air
due to the frenzied construction of malls and high-rises, were compelled to petition the Supreme Court in May. They urged the court to save Gurgaon from "complete disaster" and put an end to its unplanned development, which had made their lives untenable "financially, environmentally and mentally".
Growing middle-class concern about the fast deteriorating state of our environment is not restricted to Gurgaon alone, it’s reflected in our nationwide survey too, where people rated environmental pollution second to inflation in the list of problems they face living in
cities such as our Delhi.
Congestion in Delhi:
NEW DELHI, July 09, 2008: Concerned over the increasing congestion in Delhi, the supreme court (SC) asked the government on Tuesday to find a way to shift a large number of people from the capital that lacks
infrastructure to house them.
Saying it was conscious of the fundamental right of citizens to live and migrate to any part of the country, the apex court, however, observed, “But at the same time, the need is also fundamental for infrastructure and (it) is also equally important.”
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