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On the evening of December 12, a friend and I stared at a sea of cars in front of us. In 30 minutes, our auto had inched forward to cover just around three km between a metro station and the venue in Gurugram where the Canadian musician Bryan Adams was to perform that night.
The traffic jam stretched out near the venue indicated that most people had either driven or taken cabs to the show. I wondered why people had chosen cars over public transport, especially since the metro station was located nearby. (Though, of course, even the few concert-goers who used it, like us, found themselves stuck in traffic eventually.)
Then again, this preference from cars is unsurprising. Studies have shown that the time taken to use public transport serves as a major deterrent to commuters. Further, the vehicle taxation structure in Delhi favours cars over buses.
Gridlocks aren’t the only result of this preference. As we reported last month, the heavy load of vehicles on the road contributed anywhere between one-third and two-thirds of Delhi’s air pollution. Stubble burning, which is often referred to as the main source of hazardous particulate matter, contributes just 3% averaged over the year.
Four days after the concert, the Delhi-National Capital Region enforced GRAP 4, the strictest level of the graded response action plan that the city follows, which comes into force after the air quality index crosses the 400 mark, indicating that air quality is “severe”. This was the second time this winter that these restrictions were enforced; the first time was in November, when stubble burning was a large contributor to pollution.
This time around, as data from the decision support system for air quality management shows, there have been zero stubble burning incidents. Vehicles, meanwhile, continue to be a major source of the pollution. On December 17, the morning after GRAP 4 was implemented in the National Capital Region, Delhi transport was among the largest sources of pollution, contributing 14.5% to PM 2.5 levels in the region.
The GRAP restrictions, however, do not address the problem of transport as a whole. Under GRAP 4, entry of trucks is banned into Delhi, except those carrying essential commodities – but it includes no other measures to control the use of private vehicles. Construction and demolition activities are also banned, though data shows that on December 17, construction was responsible for only around 2% of PM 2.5 levels in the National Capital Region.
The restrictions also allow governments in the National Capital Region to make decisions about stopping physical classes in schools and colleges, and encouraging working from home for private and public employees. But as a relative of mine in Delhi said, “It makes no difference if the child is in school or at home, they are still breathing the same air, right?”
Further, GRAP restrictions are, at best, responses to toxic air after it worsens, which it usually does from November onwards. The plan does not include any measures that can improve air quality throughout the year. For citizens, the implementation of GRAP serves as a reminder that the air in Delhi is severely toxic in winter months. But what we conveniently forget is that the daily average AQI of Delhi has been more than 200 since 2018. This means that Delhiites are breathing an average of “very poor” air throughout the year.
Experts have argued that “ad-hoc emergency directions” under GRAP need to be done away with, and that instead, the government needs to formulate responses based on the largest contributors to pollution during specific periods. This is a viable option since such real-time air quality forecasts based on source contributions are now publicly available.
There are some signs of hope of change, such as the National Clean Air Programme. Under the programme’s plan for the National Capital Region, 55% of the recommended action points deal with problems of vehicle exhaust and road dust. But implementation has been inefficient – 70% of funds for Delhi under the programme for the years between 2019 and 2023 lie unutilised. Meanwhile, 67% of sanctioned posts at the Delhi Pollution Control Committee lie vacant.
These systemic problems need to be fixed and year-round measures need to be implemented – most importantly, the capital needs to find ways to reduce the number of cars on the roads. Perhaps then the next time Bryan Adams sings “Cloud Number Nine” in Gurugram and the crowd joins in with the chorus, “And the moon is out and the stars are bright”, they will actually be able to see the stars and the moon through the smog.
