Delhi's Air Pollution is Back But is There Any Hope Without Draconian Measures?

In the last few years despite so many initiatives, we haven’t seen any promising change in the air quality.

Out of the most polluted cities in the world, 21 happen to be in India. Six Indian cities are among the top 10 polluters in the world.

(Photo: The Quint)

Every winter, Delhi and its surrounding NCR regions become the smog capital of the country.

The toxic combination of stubble burning, vehicular, industrial and household emissions, construction activities, garbage burning, Diwali crackers — all of this makes this city into an unbreathable, uninhabitable and hazardous gas chamber.

But air pollution is not just a Delhi-centric problem. Out of the most polluted cities in the world, 21 happen to be in India. Six Indian cities are among the top 10 polluters in the world.

In the last few years despite so many initiatives including the Graded Response Action Plan, the National Clean Air Programme, the Delhi government’s Winter Action Plan, the NDMA guidelines, we haven’t seen any promising change in the air quality.

In the last few years despite so many initiatives including Graded Response Action Plan, the National Clean Air Programme, the Delhi government’s Winter Action Plan, the NDMA guidelines, we haven’t seen any promising change in the air quality.

Is there any hope for Delhi-NCR at all without draconian measures? In the eighth and final episode of Over2Shailaja, I speak to Dr Chandra Bhushan, CEO of the International Forum for Environment Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST) and environmental columnist; Dr Mukhesh Khare, Professor at IIT Delhi who has a specialisation in vehicular pollution modelling and indoor air pollution; and AK Nautiyal, Member Security of Air Quality Management.