(As told to Karuna Madan by Abhishek Dixit, 41, investment banker)
“I have been living in Delhi for over 15 years now. It is really unfortunate that at present Delhi’s air is the most toxic in the world due to the high concentration of particulate patter (PM) — 2.5 — that is believed to pose the greatest health risk because it penetrates deep into our lungs.
As an asthma patient, I normally use masks when I go out, particularly when I exercise in the morning. I do not like wearing a mask in the office though the air quality inside is no better. Like me, both my wife and ten-year-old daughter wear masks when they venture out. Also, I have installed air purifiers in my house for the sake of my family’s health. My asthma condition worsens every year during winter. This time the situation continued to remain grave despite the Supreme Court recently banning sale of fire crackers in Delhi. How on earth do we breathe with such high levels of PM 2.5? It is like living in a gas chamber.
I personally feel that every Indian city faces the problem of air pollution, but Delhi’s situation is aggravated by lack of sea breeze. Also in a way, it is like bad ‘karma’ catching up with Delhi, where the government has done precious little to restrict the sale of diesel vehicles. On the contrary, they have made owning such private cars cheap. It is high time diesel vehicles are phased out and replaced with ones fitted with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) kits.
Even the Delhi government’s previously introduced ‘odd-even’ policy failed miserably. Anyway, it is upon people like us to be aware of this and compel the government to take emergent steps. But sadly Delhiites do not find time enough to care about their own lives and that allows the government in power to ignore the massive threat of worsening air quality.
