Last week, when unprecedented levels of soot in the air began choking New Delhi, celebrated Indian TV news anchor Ravish Kumar invited mime artists to highlight pollution in the Indian capital and a not-so-subtle point about government’s ban on his channel for violating broadcasting norms. By using foul air as a metaphor, his prime time show was a spoof on government’s attempt to stifle the freedom of the media.
Since that night, air pollution has reached dangerously high levels in several pockets of the city of almost 19 million. Yesterday, city authorities announced the shutdown of a 700 megawatt coal-based power plant and a ban on construction activity for five days. This came after it announced a three-day closure of all schools.
The situation is so bad that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described the capital as a “toxic gas chamber”. Not surprisingly, newspapers have reported brisk sales of pollution masks, with Amazon saying demand is six times higher.
While the state has taken several steps, the complex nature of the problems calls for the involvement of the federal government. Gulf News yesterday explained in detail why pollution has reached dangerous levels in recent weeks. Out of the five main causes, three are seasonal — low wind speed, fireworks and burning of crops. Traffic emissions and industrial activity in New Delhi and neighbouring areas require long-term measures but fire crackers and stubble burning of crops can be easily controlled.
What is required is a strong political will to limit these two activities, which lead to increased levels of pollutants around this time of the year. Two, New Delhi needs an urgent and comprehensive plan to reduce traffic and industrial emissions. The federal government needs to get its priorities right and instead of banning news channels, it must act with a sense of urgency to handle this problem.
