Delhi Governments’ Emergency Plan to Avoid Smog Filled Winter

Recalling the last winter, the Delhi-NCR has been gone through one of the worst phase of pollution that the entire region was in the haste of haze and smog.

Now again, the hazardous pollution is back to the national capital and its nearby states. Meanwhile, some recent satellite images shared by the NASA showed that farmers in Punjab and Haryana have started burning crop residue earlier this month which will contribute to the air pollution. The National Green Tribunal on 2^nd December 2018 asked the Delhi government to deposit Rs 25 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for their failure to restraint the problem of pollution in the city. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel also asked the AAP government to furnish a performance guarantee of Rs 25 crore with the apex pollution monitoring body to ensure that there eill be no future lack in this regard. It said despite its clear directions, there is hardly any action for compliance of orders of the tribunal and pollution continues unabated in blatant violation of law and under the nose of the authorities "who have hardly done anything concrete except furnishing excuses and helplessness.” That an Air Quality Index (AIR) between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor" and 401 and 500 is considered to be "severe". 
The SAFAR had last week forecasted that the air quality of the national capital is expected to "significantly deteriorate". That on 1^st December due to a decline in temperature the index increased. Meanwhile, even after "significant deterioration", the air quality is likely to stay in the 'very poor' level, it had said. SAFAR said the air quality in the national capital is "very poor" and at present there is "insignificant from outside of Delhi". Officials of SAFAR further said "It is an ideal time to ascertain the impact of local emissions on the pollution level of Delhi,". Local emissions include pollutants from vehicles, construction activities and garbage burning among others. Earlier, authorities had said that vehicular emissions contribute to 40 per cent of the air pollution in Delhi. At many places MCDs has asked to shut down the construction till the end of this month.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/delhi-pollution-tackling-the-worlds-worst-smog-in-india-one-scooter-at-a-time-1957422