Delhi NCR just went through another stint of the odd-even rule from 4 to 15 November and right at the beginning of this schedule, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal put out a tweet saying-
Even though, the smog and pollution in Delhi seem a bit better than before. Is it really the odd-even rule that did it? And more importantly, is it really the solution to this issue? Let’s try and answer that.
Every year around the month of late October and November Delhi and most of northern India gets covered with a layer of smog. It gets intensified due to the festival of Diwali accompanied by a lot of cracker burning.
But that’s not the entire reason for this problem. Delhi is one of the most populated and polluted cities of the world with a lot of vehicles, industries and construction sites which add to this pollution problem.
One of the major reasons that have been cited by various studies and organizations is the stubble burning which happens around the Delhi region in the neighbouring states around the same time. It also gets aggravated because the wind pattern over the capital is stagnant during this time which doesn’t allow the pollution and the smog to go away.
The odd-even policy aims to cut through this problem by rationing the number of vehicles on the road mainly to bring down the level of PM2.5; one of the major particulate matters contributing to this smog.
Studies done by TERI and IITK indicate that the contribution to the PM2.5 by vehicular pollution is between 20 to 28%. Surprisingly, the passenger vehicles including taxis and CNG cars is only 2 percent.
The IITK study also showed that the contribution by 2 wheeler vehicles stood higher at 6% and the major share went to trucks at 9.2%.
This data clearly indicated that the odd-even scheme alone can’t solve the problem. Especially when certain exceptions like taxis, women drivers and two wheelers are put in place. The root causes need to be found and an exhaustive plan is necessary to be acted upon.
So what are these causes?
One of those major causes is the stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana. According to a report by SAFAR, stubble burning contribution rose to its highest at 46% this year. Even though, the state govt. put up plans and provisions to counter this. This issue still stands tall.
According to an estimate, about 17% of the particulate matter can be reduced if the roads in the National Capital Region are paved, leading to a decline in the dust particles in the air.
Along with that, biomass burning and the burning of plastics is also a major concern. Even though, various fines and punishments have been implemented by the govt. They do not seem to have percolated through to the bottom.
Thus, it is very clear that the odd-even policy is not the solution to the problem. At least not the only solution. It is currently a reactionary measure to the problem which has a much more complicated basis.
As the study by the Central Pollution Control Board stated;
“With no clear trend and wide fluctuations observed in the concentrations, it is evident that the meteorology and emissions from other polluting sources have been major factors impacting the air quality of Delhi during the period,”
What the state government needs to do is to come up with a plan that tackles all these issues. A solo approach with vehicles will not be sufficient for Delhi to breathe free. Moreover, the aim to reduce pollution and make Delhi a better and cleaner city needs to be a yearlong exercise and not something we do for a week or when the problem is at the doorstep.
The condition has gotten better the past few days and I sincerely hope it gets better thanks to light winds that have been active in moving the smog away
but we should not be dependent on them if we want to save ourselves from this trouble every year.