Indian capital hit by season’s first 'severe' smog episode

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - The first "severe" smog episode has hit India’s national capital and the National Capital Region and is expected to last another two days, a new analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment think tank said Wednesday.

The Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy group said the region is in the grip of a "public health emergency" and requires urgent and drastic measures to "shave off the pollution peak."

Executive Director, Research and Advocacy for the organization, Anumita Roychowdhury, said in a statement that "predictably, the season’s first episode has been triggered by the combined effect of unfavorable weather conditions (cool and calm winds and inversion), stubble burning and firecrackers.

"But even though the seasonal smog in Delhi is intense, the average daily contribution of smoke from farm stubble fires from the middle of October to November 8, 2021, has been the lowest in the last four years," she said, adding that since Nov. 6, its contribution has peaked to reach 48% on Nov. 7 and is still "elevated."

Avikal Somvanshi, program manager of Urban Lab said the levels of ozone, carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide gases have remained elevated during the current episode. "The ratio of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) to NO2(nitrogen dioxide) increased on Diwali night (Hindu festival of lights) indicating increased pollution load from firecrackers. The PM2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter) concentration on Diwali night (8 PM to 8 AM) has been the most intense since 2017," he said.

The group said their analysis is based on real-time data available from "current working air quality" monitoring stations in Delhi-National Capital Region and the larger Indo-Gangetic Plain. "This analysis covers 156 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) spread across 67 cities."

Roychowdhury termed the ongoing smog episode "a public health emergency."

"This requires urgent emergency action on key combustion sources (vehicles, industry, waste burning) and dust sources (construction and roads) to prevent further trapping of pollution when there is no wind to blow this away. We need pollution-source-wise and hotspot-wise status of action,” she said.

The Centre for Science and Environment called for "leveraging this to speed up longer-term action for scaling up integrated public transport systems, walking and cycling; eliminate dirty fuels from all industrial units while tightening emissions control measures; and strengthen the municipal systems and infrastructure for segregated collection and recycling of waste."

Air pollution in New Delhi has become a seasonal problem for years. The air quality remains poor mostly during winter from November to January.

Several studies have pointed out that air pollution in India has contributed to a large number of deaths.

The "State of Global Air 2019" study found that in 2017, pollution contributed to more than 1.2 million deaths in India.