Rising air pollution in Delhi is a big worry for the government. With Prime Minister Modi highlighting this issue, launched India’s first National Air Quality Index two months ago, it did little to help one reporter stay back in the national capital.
New York Times journalist, Gardiner Harris, gives a harrowing ordeal between his career and the love for his children which forced him to leave Delhi as NYT’s South Asian correspondent.
In his blog post, Gardiner narrates an incident involving his 8-year old son, Bram, who soon developed respiratory difficulties which turned into asthma and the ordeal his family had to face even when they were prepared to handle everyday issues like, beggars, traffic, and the heat.
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What they were not prepared for was the gas chamber which is Delhi. Many reports state that Delhi’s air is the most polluted in the world with half of children having impaired lung functions. Also, more than 70% of water supplied by Delhi Jal Board is undrinkable; it is contaminated by leakage from sewers.
According to reports, the population has grown from nearly 17.60 lakh to 1.8 crore, the highest growth rate for any Indian city-since Independence. Delhi has about 0.05 percent of the India’s geographical area but consists 1.38 percent of the nation’s population.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said, air pollution is the world’s biggest environmental health risk, causing at least one in eight deaths around the globe.
WHO had last year ranked Delhi as the most polluted among 1,600 cities across the world, worse than Beijing which had previously held the dubious tag.
Also Read: Quality Of Living Report: Hyderabad Beats Mumbai, Delhi
The same WHO report reveals that 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India.
Apart from development of respiratory diseases, exposure to air pollution leads to severe risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease. Moreover, stronger links of air pollution and cancer have also been established in recent studies.
A resolution passed by the 68th World Health Assembly, called for all countries to develop air quality monitoring systems and health registries to improve surveillance for all illnesses related to air pollution.
WHO also asked its member countries to promote clean cooking, heating and lighting technologies and fuels; and strengthen international transfer of expertise, technologies and scientific data in the field of air pollution.
Late last month, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), put a ban on burning of crop residue, farm waste, plastics and leaves. However, strict implementation has not taken place, leading to an increased air pollution.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar passed a slew of directions, including asking the civic authorities and state governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to “immediately” spread mass awareness regarding ill-effects of burning waste materials in open areas.
“It is on record before us that burning of garbage and other materials is not only source of air pollution but forms 29.4 per cent of air pollution with reference to PM10. Burning of material also causes serious respiratory problems and are even carcinogenic.
Delhi’s exponential growth, coupled with lack of infrastructural development due to politics between centre and state, has begun to show the cracks on the wall. The city is creaking, literally, under pressure.
A relocation of the national capital to a more central region is one suggestion, educating and implementing strong regulatory advice on air pollution is another. An action needs to take place now.
As Gardiner puts it in his blog, living in Delhi is unethical to raise the next generation.