📍REAL ACTION, NOT HYPE WILL CLEAN DELHI’S AIR !
A newspaper headline about cleaning Delhi’s air beguiled me into thinking the government had finally woken up to do something about the national capital’s life threatening pollution. But when I look below the headlines, I am struck by the utter absurdity of the proposed program.
The Delhi administration has unveiled a ₹104-cr pilot project to install outdoor air purifiers and mist-based scrubbers across 40 designated zones. Outsourced to private operators, this program promises a 20% reduction in the levels of the worst offenders, the PM 10 and PM 2.5 pollutants.
If ever there was a problem made to stand on its head by the proposed solution, this is it. No, here is not an effort to cut the levels of polluting emissions at source, rather, it is an exercise aimed to scrub the city’s air after it has been heavily laden with pollutants!
Why can’t the ₹104-cr be spent on reducing pollution instead of bolting the stable doors after the horse has fled ? The reasons for Delhi’s pollution are well known. Vehicular emissions are the main cause. According to 2024 data, 1,800 new vehicles were registered daily in Delhi. At over 1.5 crore, the number of registered vehicles in Delhi exceeded the total number of vehicles in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai combined.
Why are we not limiting vehicles and introducing public transport? Why are we not cracking down on construction dust and mountains of construction waste strewn across the city? Using the old tactic of sensational headlines and misleading messages is not going to clean Delhi’s nauseous air. Only honest, committed action will.
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