According to a recent data by IQ Air Visual, in collaboration with Greenpeace Southeast Asia, in the first week of March, “Out of 10 most polluted cities in the world, 7 cities are from India. These cities include Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Noida, Patna and Lucknow. Delhi is standing at 11th position, followed by five other Indian cities ranking between 11 and 16.”
Another study was released by the International Food Policy Research Institute that revealed, crop burning resulting in air pollution costs North India more than $30 billion annually. The bad news is, the risk of acute respiratory infection triples due to such hazardous level of pollution.
Sunil Dahiya, clean air campaigner, Greenpeace said, “this data is terrifying, yet many people in India are not aware about this issue, which is increasing at an alarming rate. The simple reason is that we don’t lose our life the very moment we consume polluted air. As a result, nobody cares about this poison which is slowly taking our life day by day. People have always remained ignorant towards ‘right to breathe’. Moreover, politicians think that protection of environment is their last priority."
Rumi Aijaz, senior fellow, Observer Research Foundation shows his concern for not seeing any on-ground impact on this issue, even though there have been several attempts by both courts and the local government. The reason for failed attempts could be, partially implemented measures.
“In the National Capital Region, government agencies are dependent heavily on the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). However, execution of some of the measures is difficult,” he says.
It has been predicted that pollution may worsen in the years to come. In the words of Pujarini Sen of Greenpeace India, “We have gone through various researches that suggest different ways towards cleaner India, but is there any strong political belief to fight this emergency?
Image Credits – Delhi tour
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