I am proud of my City – Ghaziabad # 2.

Efforts to control climate change are centered on containing Greenhouse gases (GHG), consisting of - Carbon dioxide, Methane, Chlorofluorocarbons, Nitrous oxide and Ozone. Common air pollutants are - fine particles,  ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, carbon monoxide and the two could have a common strategy for control.

The Question?

What have we achieved in last 4 decades of Air Quality Act (1981) and numerous high level bodies, constituted during these years? A press release of the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) refers to efforts by the Ministry for mitigation of Air Pollution and the mission to reduce PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations (20-30%) by 2024 with 2017 as the base year (1).

There are similar efforts by the State Govt of Delhi and the two governments vie each other in taking credit or blaming each other for lapses. Incidentally, all high level bodies including the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) give directives, with no authority to fix responsibility, nor they have powers to penalise for non-performance of the directives.

There are monitoring stations, research reports, expert opinions and hectic activity by Municipal Corporation of Ghaziabad and the Development Authority. But there is no impact assessment of the activities being carried out and the city continues to be at the top in the national capital region (NCR)

It calls for Management Approach

Appointment of “Commission for Air Quality Management” [CAQM] - through an ordinance in Oct’ 2020, with powers to penalize was a welcome step, but that also started with issuing directives (2).

Actions recommended by CAQM are nicely compiled in ten points that need a coordinated effort with accountability and Performance Audit. Further, effective mitigation needs a control mechanism, preferably a SINGLE local management entity (LME). It should be a business model committed to Air Quality in Social Entrepreneurship domain and in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. 

A model operating framework will have to be evolved that makes earnings from Green business, supports some of the noble objectives of CAQM, though it does not exist anymore and earn Govt Grant based on measurable “Performance Points”, not just grants-in-aid.  [It will be discussed later]

Media Speaks

In March 2021, the media hyped World Pollution Report 2020, showing PM2.5 reduction by 15 percent, but an article in “India Today” dated April 14, 2021 (3), says situation is worsening during current one-and-a-half month with reference to 2018. The table below compares air quality of 2020 and 2021 – 

There are research papers and reports generated by academia, media and NGOs that specifically relate to either stubble burning or effect of PM2.5 on health, mortality, economy etc. There are about a dozen ideas for alternative disposal of stubble, but why these couldn’t be promoted?

Some international studies (4, 5) refer to PM2.5 as the most disturbing pollutant and mention that average PM2.5 increased by approximately ~75%, touching hourly concentrations 1676 μg/m3 during Diwali in Delhi. 

A few cross references of 2002, 2018 and 2019 publications in a recent study (6), blame Delhi pollution for affecting the Global Eco System. These are quoted as follows:

• Indian monsoon can transport air pollutants to remote oceanic regions, inject into the stratosphere and redistribute them globally (Lelieveld et al., 2018).
• Impact of Indian air pollution is wide-ranging globally; has interactions with climate and ecosystems worldwide (Menon et al., 2002; Gao et al., 2019).

There are many researchers, most of them outsource data and make use of mathematical models to make certain judgements. Oxides of nitrogen are generated by combustion of diesel and petrol. My Hindi newspaper, published a report on March 28, 2021, citing a technical paper published in British Medical Journal on March 24, 2020, based on daily measurement of gas quantity in 398 cities of 22 countries in 45 years (1973 to 2018)

The above research co-relates nitrogen di-oxide concentration with number of deaths. It concludes that every increase by 10 microgram per cubic meter concentration leads to 0.46 percent more deaths, and there are similar findings for respiratory and cardiac ailments also.

Further, a recent news relates to effect of micro-plastic particulate matter in air, published in the Daily Mail of Britain (7) on April 18, 2021. In 2020 itself, the centre for science and environment (CSE) suggested that 1.4 million ton coal is consumed in NCR and a Professor from IIT-Delhi came out with research that frequent braking of vehicles on road generates harmful particles in the air that come out due to rubbing of Brake-Shoes.

Thus everyone keeps on educating us about factors of air pollution and their impact on human health, but how am I going to manage or control the Air Quality in my city (Ghaziabad) that I am really proud of?    ……………….That’s My Concern.

[To be continued…………]

[This is in continuation to my earlier Article- https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/i-am-proud-my-city-ghaziabad-1-virendra-grover ]

?References:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1593056 Various Initiatives undertaken by Government for mitigation of Air Pollution 22 NOV 2019 2:39PM by PIB Delhi.
2. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1671452 Commission for air quality reviews scenario in NCR. Identifies ten immediate measures. 09 NOV 2020 6:10PM by PIB Delhi.
3. https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/delhi/story/why-delhi-is-currently-witnessing-the-worst-air-quality-since-2018-1790672-2021-04-14
4. PM 2.5 exposure in highly polluted cities: A case study from New Delhi, July 2017 Environmental Research 156:167-174; Authors: Pallavi Pant, Health Effects Institute and Gazala Habib, IIT Delhi
5. Local characteristics of and exposure to PM2.5 in 4 Indian megacities, YingChena OliverWilda et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100052 Atmospheric Environment: X, Vol 5, Jan’ 2020,
6. Mitigation of PM2.5 and ozone pollution in Delhi: A sensitivity study during the pre-monsoon period,       Published: 14 Jan 2020, https://www.atmospheric-chemistry-and-physics.net  Authors - Ying Chen1,2, Oliver Wild1,2, Edmund Ryan1,9, Saroj Kumar Sahu4 et al.
7. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9485079/The-new-plague-plastic-rain-microplastics-literally-pouring-sky.html      the new plague of plastic rain — how micro plastics are literally pouring from the sky By GEOFFREY LEAN: THE DAILY MAIL: PUBLISHED: 18 April 2021.