GRAP-pling with Delhi Pollution!

I don’t really need to look at the news or environmental trackers to know the air in Delhi has turned “severe”… my younger daughter… and her inability to breathe comfortably, is a grim indicator every winter.

Windows are summarily shut, the “air purifier” cleaned and switched-on…. In the hope, that the tiny body will be able to cope better.

I have no explanation to her question “why this happens only to her”…… in her young mind, her big worry is the missed game of football in the park… while the grown-ups seem to have resigned themselves to slow poisoning!

I do wonder, however, if whether at all we, as a city and a nation, have given up on the idea that a healthy, modern, developed?capital city can co-exist with a clean and sustainable environment?

Currently, the authorities are aggressively scrambling, trying to keep old vehicles off the main roads…. and private sector construction has been “banned”. There are other , well intentioned,?fig-leaf ideas, like trucks spraying water along the main arterial roads of Delhi….. driving slow during rush hour…..causing pile-ups of angry, peak hour commuters behind them …….. causing more vehicular pollution!!!

I recall, we didn’t have so many sensors and observatories then…. But riding a bike around Delhi the early 90’s would give you a sooty face… clearly (pun intended) the AQI was off the charts!… till the then authorities moved out all industrial activity from Delhi and mandated all public transport to be run on CNG. There was pandemonium…. it was a painful transition….…. strikes and demonstrations followed….… yet, Delhi became a cleaner city to live in… for several years……. till we got back to where we are today!! No ideas are perfect.. but no one can argue, we had cleaner air!

There are tonnes of papers and data on the macro measures to be taken, and, while Covid and its lock downs were horrible…. they did show us, that nature comes back rather quickly, if you let it.

I do not have the knowledge to speak on other aspects (including the much discussed “farm fires”), but through this forum, I do want to ask the following questions to my industry and community:

-Do we truly believe, we have it in us, to design, build and live in a world class city?

-If so, do we truly believe, we can all work together within a stipulated timeline, to agree ? that 80% of ALL superstructure construction in NCR will be precast/ pre fabricated by 2025?

It makes not just environmental sense, but immense economic sense as well, by way of value addition to the industry. It can offer the (much needed) boost to making our design and construction industry move into high technology/ high performance mindset. It is a win-win for everyone…. from the way quarries are operated, bagging and control of wastage, recycling and up-cycling,?training and upgradation of?of design and engineering talent to meet the stringent requirements of contractors/ industry, drive investment to the back-bone of setting up plants that can produce concrete and steel or hybrid elements in a controlled, waste-free environment, a much better control on site related work, and predictability of timelines and quality for built structures. In short, up-skill/ upgrade and improve! We have a thriving auto and IT industry… we can take a leaf.. or several, out of their play book of the last two decades! No body on the auto industry?bemoans “unskilled migrant workers”… They talk of skills, and KanBan… and efficiency and growth! All the while, creating better value and life for the members of their industry.

The millions of “unskilled” workers that turn the wheels of construction industry, have a real shot, at being “trained” for efficient output, value, and therefore a better life. They have the real chance of moving out of the metro slums, to the counter magnet cities, where realistically the “building industry” will need to come up…!

Maybe, it is time for a strong, positive legislation, that “bans” wasteful low-tech construction in the next two years. And perhaps, the lead can be taken by the “projects of national importance” that continue, despite the haze…. Will we take the opportunity and take action…or will many many children, like?my daughter, be slow poisoned to an uncertain future?