Delhi goes for a soft battle against a tough enemy

Pollution grows unabated amid faulty policies and delays: Experts

- ANUSHKA BHARDWAJ

November 22 marked another significant day in Delhi's fight against its most enduring enemy — air pollution.

A day after the Supreme Court asked the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to reconsider the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), CAQM introduced major tweaks to pollution control measures. Under the reforms, some restrictions under Grap-IV will now be implemented at the Grap-IIL level, including provisions for work-from-home and 50 per cent office capacity. Similarly, some Grap-IIL measures will now come into effect at the Grap-II stage.

This comes after Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) has remained above 350 every day since November 11, when Chief Minister (CM) Rekha Gupta introduced Grap-III measures. The Grap-IIL implementation followed protests by city residents on November 9.

“We have plans like the National Clean Air Programme and Grap. They are impactful, but implementation is often delayed and shortsighted,” says Mohan P George, former additional director at the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. He adds that these delays and the lack of scientific backing reflect a broader lack of political will to tackle the issue.

Delhi’s crisis is recurring and increasingly fatal. According to data from the Global Burden of Disease, air pollution accounted for nearly 15 per cent of all deaths in Delhi in 2023. Since 2016, schools have had to shut for a week almost every year due to severe AQI levels.

“Those who can afford it are buying air purifiers; all government offices and policymakers have them. Since the crisis is being addressed at an individual level, it fails to become a larger priority,” says political analyst Ankit Lal.