NEW DELHI: Experts in the field of air pollution got together on Saturday to prepare a list of suggestions for mitigating pollution in the city and will submit it to the Delhi government. However, most of them concur that short term measures restricted to Delhi will do nothing to improve the situation as the entire Indo-Gangetic plain is affected by poor air quality.
Speaking at the'Delhi Air Quality' organised by the Delhi chapter of the Indian Association for Air Pollution Control, Prof J M Dave, an air quality expert said: "A major reason for the high level of particulate matter in Delhi is dust coming from Rajasthan."Prof Mukesh Sharma from IIT Kanpur also said that states on Delhi's west like Punjab and Haryana were contributing hugely to the capital's pollution load. "Cleaning just Delhi won't help. About 75% of the pollution from outside is coming from the west through burning of crops and the remaining from east,"he said.
Experts also pointed out that no long term study had been done to determine the impact of various pollutants on health. Dr TK Joshi, n occupational health specialist said long term exposure to pollution would develop tolerance in people but that did not mean that they were not being harmed by it. "This problem cannot be addressed by just working in Delhi. Local measures are short term quick fixes. Existing pollution studies focus on impact on single pollutants while their combined effects can be very different,"he said.
Highlighting the urgency to also take local measures, Dr B Sengupta, president of IAAPC and former member secretary Central Pollution Control Board said that benzene was another major pollutant, being emitted from fuel at petrol pumps."Delhi's CM is at major risk since there are several petrol pumps near his residence at Civil Lines. Cities across the world have vapour recovery systems but Delhi has failed to implement it so far.
The experts have compiled a list of suggestions which will not be submitted to the government for an action oriented plan. Some of them include setting standards of air quality that the government would like to meet within a fixed time frame.
To improve collection of data, there have to be better calibrated equipment and continuous monitoring. However, along with monitoring an implementable action plan also needs to be made. The government needs a comprehensive health impact data of various pollutants. More urgently, a large scale plan involving other states needs to be drawn up since Delhi alone cannot fight air pollution, said Sengupta.
