CHOKE IS ON DELHI AGAIN

Delhi’s iconic Lotus Temple: Gone with the pollution

- Saurya Sengupta

Delhi’s pollution was firmly in the “severe” zone of the air quality index (AQI) for a second straight day on Thursday, as calm winds amplified the effects of local pollutants and stubble-fire smoke sheathed the Capital in a dome of filthy grey, hurling residents into an unmitigated public health disaster and underscoring the incompetence of agencies and officials who, once again, failed to fend off a nightmare that haunts the city every year.

The Capital recorded a 24-hour AQI of 424 at 4pm, worse than the reading of 418 at the same time on Wednesday, showed data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Agencies and governments expressly responsible for quelling the crisis either shrugged their shoulders at the rapidly worsening crisis or chose to pass the blame to everyone but themselves. “This is an air emergency. Like previous years,we seemed to have learned no lessons and people who suffer every year continue to suffer,” said Bhavreen Kandhari, an environmental activist part of the citizens’ group Warrior Moms. TheCommission forAirQuality Management (CAQM), the central agencywhose sole task is to control pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), belatedly imposed curbs under Stage 3 of its response plan on Thursday evening, a day after the air quality first hit "severe". nThe agency had met on Wednesday evening as the AQI surged into the upper margins of the "severe" category towards record levels, but, inexplicably, refrained from taking any control measures.

CAQM's own charter says: "Actions under Stages 2, 3 and 4 of the Grap (Graded Response Action Plan) shall be invoked in advance of the AQI reaching to the projected levels of that stage." And yet, the body was again behind the curve on pollution control.