TOXIC CITY
TOXIC CITY
A Consultative Report on Pollution in New Delhi and Steps to Control Pollution
By Rakesh Raman December 2021
INTRODUCTION
The “Toxic City” report is intended to highlight the perennial problem of air pollution in India’s capital New Delhi and surrounding areas with certain preventive recommendations for the government, pollution control agencies, and courts to reduce the level of pollution
It is being seen that the steps being taken by the authorities now or in the past have proved to be totally ineffective while the air pollution levels are increasing exponentially as compared to the previous years.
A pollution scene in India’s capital New Delhi which is the most polluted national capital in the world. Photo: Rakesh Raman / RMN News Service
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR RAKESH RAMAN
Rakesh Raman is a national award winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He runs various environment protection campaigns and manages the Green Group of Delhi which works to save the environment from air pollution, dust pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, etc. in order to minimize the effect of pollution on climate change.
He also produces the Clean Climate environment news magazine that covers local and international environment news and issues to engage with different stakeholders who are trying to protect the environment. He runs a comprehensive editorial section “Lethal Pollution
Killing People in Delhi” that carries news and describes the lethality of pollution in Delhi His detailed profile is given below
The Real time Air Quality Index (AQI) on November 5, 2021 shows hazardous air quality levels in Delhi.
Recently, after exhausting all the forums in India, he has filed a petition with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) with the appeal to protect the environmental and human rights of people in Delhi. He has also sent a detailed petition to the Chief
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Justice of India and other authorities with the appeal to stop lethal construction and pollution in Delhi.
Note: This case is also available on the Public Grievance Monitoring System (PGMS) of Delhi Government under Registration No: 2021120462 dated 14/10/2021. While the government functionaries are tossing it from one department to another, they are not taking a decisive action to stop avoidable construction and related pollution in Delhi's group housing societies.
DELHI POLLUTION FACTS
While Delhi continues to be the most polluted national capital in the world, a staggering number of deaths are taking place due to pollution in the city. A global environment research organization Greenpeace Southeast Asia reveals that pollution killed 54,000 people in just one year (2020) in Delhi while the city is at the top of a list of world’s five most polluted cities. In other words, pollution is killing nearly 150 people everyday in Delhi while hundreds of Delhi residents are falling sick.
The extreme pollution in Delhi is usually compared to the poisonous gas chambers used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust for the genocide of millions of European Jews
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi remains at hazardous or unhealthy levels throughout the year. But the government and pollution control agencies take only some ineffective, temporary measures for a couple of weeks to control pollution
An interactive tool on the Breathe Life 2030 website shows a particulate matter (PM2 5) level of 143 micrograms per cubic metre (annual mean) in Delhi This is over 14 times more than the WHO (World Health Organization) safe level of 10 µg/m3 . Simply put, the people of Delhi inhale poison from the air everyday during the entire year.
It is now being observed that many people are running away from Delhi like refugees or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) A survey published by India Today magazine revealed that 35 percent of residents want to leave Delhi because of increasing pollution in the city. As a result, India is falling in the category of countries with large IDP populations such as Syria, Colombia, Iraq, Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia.
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Instead of controlling pollution in Delhi, the negligent authorities are deliberately spreading pollution across the city by imposing cruel policies that encourage lethal construction in group housing societies where millions of people live. The massive construction projects under the corrupt floor area ratio (FAR) policy are spreading dust pollution, noise pollution, and air pollution in Delhi as well as surrounding areas
More than 480 million people living in the vast swathes of central, eastern, and northern India, including New Delhi, endure significantly high pollution levels, said a report prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) The report released in September 2021 adds that air pollution is likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40 percent of Indians by more than nine years. The effect in Delhi is worse.
For more details and links to actual reports, you can click here to visit the “Lethal Pollution Killing People in Delhi” editorial section on RMN news site
Children demonstrating in the streets of New Delhi so that the Indian government should protect them from dust pollution, noise pollution, and air pollution of extended FAR construction activity in occupied housing societies Photo and Campaign by Rakesh Raman
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FLAWED GOVERNMENT APPROACH TO TACKLE DELHI POLLUTION
Since politicians, bureaucrats, and officials of pollution control agencies are not properly skilled and qualified, they take only some perfunctory steps every year to deal with the complex pollution problem. Although the Supreme Court of India is supposed to protect the environmental rights of the citizens, the court judges only hold some meaningless hearing sessions with the government lawyers without protecting the rights of citizens.
The Supreme Court has even ignored the fact that the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) has recognized for the first time that having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right. While more than 80 percent of UN Member States already recognize the right to a healthy environment through national law, court decisions, or regional treaties, the new Resolution still marks a watershed moment in the fight against the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
Senior citizens in a group housing society of Dwarka in New Delhi urge the government to save them from dust pollution, noise pollution, and air pollution of extended FAR construction activity. Photo and Campaign by Rakesh Raman
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However, the Supreme Court has never used the environmental or human rights laws to address the mounting pollution problem which is going from bad to worse every year. The court judges who lack domain expertise satisfy themselves by forming some ineffective committees or task forces which cannot help tackle pollution menace
Since there is no accountability for government functionaries and the Supreme Court is terribly casual in its approach, the pollution has been silently killing thousands of people every year in Delhi. But this lawlessness which is damaging the local environment and posing a serious environmental threat to other parts of the world must stop.
Although the negligent Indian authorities and toothless courts do not have any mechanism to formally accept and implement expert suggestions from the public, I am giving below some steps and recommendations that will help the government to a greater extent curb pollution in Delhi. While I have mentioned these steps briefly, the authorities need to develop them in the form of guideline documents and instruction manuals for different stakeholders
Images released by NASA Earth Observatory on November 18, 2021 show rising air pollution levels in New Delhi, which continues to be the most polluted national capital in the world
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12 STEPS TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI
1. Vehicle Occupancy
The number of passengers in each private car on the city roads should be at least 4. The car owners must be heavily fined if they break this rule throughout the year. The two wheelers should be permitted only for the delivery of essential products and services
2. Fixed Car Timings
Each private car should be allowed to ply for a maximum of 2 hours in a day with full capacity of passengers Similarly, there should be capacity and time restrictions on taxi services in the city.
3. Green Zones
Widespread green zones should be established in Delhi where no vehicle with conventional fuel (petrol or diesel) should be allowed to run. Only vehicles on emissions free alternative fuel or electric vehicles (EVs) should be allowed to enter these green zones
4. Limited Construction
Since dust pollution is the most lethal form of pollution which cannot be stopped with pollution prevention measures, the unavoidable construction activity such as for hospital buildings, school buildings, or roads should be allowed only for a couple of summer months in the year
5. Avoidable Construction
Any form of avoidable construction should not be allowed at any time of the year. The ongoing avoidable construction work should be stopped immediately
6. Subsidized Travel
The public transport infrastructure should be substantially improved in Delhi and citizens should be allowed to travel on buses and metro trains at significantly subsidized rates.
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7. Vehicle Purchase
Purchase of new cars should be made difficult for the buyers. Only a small percentage of applicants who apply to buy a car should be permitted by drawing lots during a couple of months in a year.
8. Firecrackers
While politicians do not stop firecrackers for dirty political reasons, there must be a permanent ban on all types of firecrackers and heavy penalties should be imposed on all those who violate the rule.
9. Air Conditioners
The buyers should be asked to apply for a licence to buy air conditioners for homes or offices. Only those should be allowed to buy air conditioners who have an unavoidable need such as for patients in a home or hospital.
Deadly dust, noise, and air pollution is caused by avoidable floor area ratio (FAR) construction in occupied cooperative group housing societies of Delhi. Photo: Residents of Delhi
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10. Factory Operations
The factories in and around Delhi which spread pollution should be suitably educated to take all possible steps to stop pollution. Those factories which fail to comply should be ordered to shutter their operations.
11. Office Working
The workers in government offices should be categorized to physically attend offices on alternate periods of time say, weekly Only those employees should attend offices who have to deal with public issues. Others can operate from their homes while new performance monitoring norms must be devised for telecommuters. Private companies should also be encouraged to adopt this system of working The need is to make and embrace a new office culture in which the employees are supposed to enhance their productivity levels while working remotely.
Children who studied at the RMN Foundation free school participating in a pollution control campaign in Delhi. Photo and Campaign by Rakesh Raman
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12. Virtual Meetings and Digital Communications
All government departments and courts should offer an option to Delhi citizens for online, virtual meetings and digital communications. Only those citizens who do not have the facility to communicate online should travel. Simultaneously, the government should establish hundreds of communication kiosks in different localities of the city where people could go in their vicinity to communicate with the government officials.
Other supplementary measures such as planting trees should be encouraged These are some steps that I have briefly mentioned above. Depending on the government response, I can further explain each of these points along with more steps and make instruction manuals to implement the steps systematically
RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE POLLUTION CONTROL STEPS
1. In order to implement the above stated steps, the Supreme Court should order the government to form an exclusive 10 member team of external domain experts who will suggest, measure, and monitor the specific steps taken to control pollution in the city. Such a team formed with government employees will fail to deliver results.
2. This team of independent experts who are not government employees should not have in it any traditional bureaucrat, politician, or official of the existing pollution control agencies because all of them are too lethargic and have repeatedly failed in this task.
3. The new team will make a plan within a week and coordinate with the court, government, and law-enforcement agencies to implement the short-term and long-term measures which will keep evolving.
4. If any government official fails to accomplish the assigned task within the given timeframe, they should face departmental action including suspension or termination of their jobs.
5. The court should simply apply the law to address the pollution problem instead of issuing loose statements or casually censuring the officials in the courtroom.
6. A mechanism has to be devised to record diseases and deaths with pollution in Delhi.
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Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) letter dated November 12, 2021 in response to the complaint filed by me to stop pollution in Delhi But government officials simply ignored the CPCB letter and did not take any corrective action
The government officials keep writing casual letters in response to the complaints by citizens, but they never take decisions to resolve the pollution problem For instance, in response to a complaint filed by me, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) sent its
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letter dated November 12, 2021 to different pollution control agencies. But they simply ignored the CPCB letter and none of them took any decision to address the issue. This kind of reckless behaviour by government officials amounts to dereliction of official duty which is a cognizable offence
Note: All authorities should work on a strict principle that pollution and environmental degradation should not be allowed to happen under the garb of infrastructure development or employment protection. The way pollution is killing people or making them sick, it will not be possible for people to use the infrastructure being built at the expense of their health The priority should be to curb pollution in Delhi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rakesh Raman is a national award winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit page column regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group)
Nowadays, for the past more than 10 years, he has been running his own global news services on multiple news sites covering subjects such as politics, technology, education, and entertainment. He also runs various environment protection, education awareness, and anti corruption campaigns, and publishes research reports on different subjects
He runs an exclusive information service on elections and politics in the U.S. and he has launched “Rural Resistance: Protests by Farmers” editorial section to cover the agricultural reforms and ongoing farmers’ protests in India. Recently, he has also started another editorial service to cover Punjab Legislative Assembly Election 2022.
He runs a community driven anti corruption social service “Clean House” to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies where millions of people live He has also formed an environment protection group called Green Group in Delhi. He has created a new governance model for various state governments in India to help them introduce “Open Government” in their states by publicly disclosing and updating the personal, performance, financial, and
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crime details of their MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly). He also runs “Catch Your MLA” citizen service for the people of Delhi. It aims to help Delhi citizens hold their MLAs accountable for their dereliction of duty. He has filed a petition with the President of India, Chief Justice of India, and Election Commission of India with the appeal to stop criminality in Indian politics.
He creates and distributes a number of digital publications on different subjects such as coronavirus, environment, agriculture, corruption and transparency, law and justice, and economic and political upheavals in different parts of the world.
He had set up and managed a free school for deserving children for 5 years during 2015 2019 to impart modern education to poor children at the J J Colony of Dwarka, Sector 3, New Delhi. Now, after the coronavirus containment, he is again planning to start such schools for poor and disadvantaged children.
He has been facing increasing threats including death threats for his editorial and anti corruption work. He had also been associated with the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. Click here to see his work.
Contact Rakesh Raman
Editor, RMN News Service [ Website ]
Founder, RMN Foundation [ Website ] 463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4 Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, India
Mobile: 9810319059 | Contact by Email
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