Why we have failed to tackle air pollution: 5 reasons
NEW DELHI: Neither the Centre nor the states have 3. Governments fail to enforce: 94 cities don’t
put in place a plan to tackle rising pollution in cit- meet national air quality standards, says CPCB
ies across India. Here are five reasons why we have But no city administration seems worried about get-
ting off that list. Delhi, for instance, is still short of
failed to tackle the pollution menace.
5,000 buses; it hasn’t implemented SC directions on
1. We are not monitoring air quality in real time: prohibiting waste burning or ensuring construction
projects don’t pollute. Data for most cities makes it
573 places still monitor air quality manually
The Central Pollution Control Board gets real-time obvious that air pollution is not high on any govern-
air quality data from only two or three monitoring ment’s priority list.
stations in most cities. This gives a skewed picture
of air quality status and compromises policy-making. 4. Ignoring health risks: 8.5% of GDP — Welfare
Most cities depend on manual monitoring stations, costs and lost labour income due to air pollution in
which use obsolete technology, and data is released 2013 as per World Bank report
While air pollution is hurting the country’s exche-
just twice a week.
quer, it’s also associated with certain cancers, lower
2. We don’t know the sources of air pollution: 2008 birth weight, premature birth, strokes and respiratory
was when data on pollution sources was last col- disease. Across the country, air pollution is linked to
6.7 lakh premature deaths.
lected in cities
A study by IIT Kanpur for Delhi revealed that the
contribution of each source of pollution—vehicles, 5: People aren’t pitching in
waste burning, construction dust—changes with the The Deonar landfill fire drew attention to Mumbai’s
seasons, but most cities don’t have this information. waste problem, while Delhi’s three landfills are con-
Bengaluru’s emissions inventory was conducted in stantly on fire exposing lakhs of people to carcinogen-
2010 and Chennai’s by IIT Madras in 2011, while ic emissions. This is a common problem in all cities.
Kanpur, Mumbai and Pune released their reports in If people segregated garbage at home, there would be
no burning of waste. People can also choose public
2010.
transport, or pick electric and CNG vehicles.
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