An international cricket match was in the limbo. Traffic is being regulated by odd and even number vehicles rules. Water canons are used to douse suspended dust particles. The situation was and is grave and all political parties and their leaders are blaming the neighbouring states for stubble burning after the harvest.
A high-level meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee called on Friday (November 15) to address the alarming rise in air pollution in the national capital region had to be cancelled at the last minute as most officials did not attend. Cricketer and BJP Member of Parliament Gautam Gambhir, whose name was among the Lok Sabha members summoned for the meeting, skipped the meeting but was seen in Indore, which was a venue for the cricket Test match between India and Bangladesh.
Three commissioners of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and secretary/joint secretary of environment did not attend the meeting. DDA officials and Municipal chairpersons also failed to turn up. A total of 21 Lok Sabha members and eight Rajya Sabha members were asked to attend the meet, out of which only four including Chairman Jagdambika Pal, Hasnain Masoodi, CR Patil and Sanjay Singh did arrive at the meeting and abided by the notice which was given to all seven days earlier. It is a testimony to the fact that even though we talk a lot of protecting the environment, we do not take it seriously when the time comes to act.
The committee has taken this ‘negligence’ seriously and its chairman Jagdambika Pal said that he will write to the Speaker about this misconduct. “There was no communication to the committee about the unavailability of the officials,” he said. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said he will launch a probe to look into the absence of the officials. “We will look into why people did not turn up. We are very concerned about the environment. I have always said that joint cooperation is needed. All five states – Haryana, Punjab Uttar Pradesh Delhi and Rajasthan — need to come together and the issue should not be politicised,” said Javadekar.
As in England when people have nothing to talk, they talk about weather. But in Delhi people have nothing to talk except the pollution which hit the Capital post the Diwali festivals. The air quality in Delhi is not likely to get better anytime soon. To tackle the rising pollution level, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal implemented the car-rationing system “odd-even” scheme in Delhi. The Delhi government is closely monitoring the air quality in the capital and that is all one can do.
After nearly five consecutive days of ‘severe’ air quality, Delhi on Sunday (November 17) finally registered an improvement in the Air Quality Index (AQI) which stood at the ‘very poor’ category during the wee hours. The overall AQI in Delhi on Sunday morning was recorded at 365 as compared to 505 on Saturday, according to Government of India’s air quality information service SAFAR.
According to the weather forecasting agency Skymet, Delhi tops the chart of most polluted city in the world. Delhi air quality broke all records on November 5, when it was in the hazardous range for nine consecutive days, making this the longest spell of hazardous air quality since public records keeping began. With the AQI of 527 on Friday, Delhi registered itself as the most polluted cities in the world. With the AQI of 234, Lahore was at second position. Third was Tashkent with an AQI reading of 185. Fifth was Kolkata at 161. Skymet reports that six of the top 10 highest polluted cities are in India and its neighbouring countries which include Delhi, Karachi, Lahore, Mumbai, Kolkata and Kathmandu.
The issue is serious and we need to think not only about our future but also for the future of the coming generations. Are they going to move around with gas masks on a routine basis? Or, will have to sit compulsorily in oxygen bars, which incidentally has become a thriving business in the capital city, lately.
