​Rearguard action: On weather change and consistent action Politics & News

The fog season has commenced in India, kickstarting the annual cycle of adversity, accidents and chaos in northern India. The spike in particulate matter pollution after monsoon winds, and how it lays bare the year-round unmitigated pollution — now characteristic of not only Delhi, its surrounding capital regions and vast swathes of the Indo-Gangetic plains but, increasingly, even Mumbai, Kolkata and mushrooming urban clusters — is well known. Fog, which results from the fall in temperatures and an accumulation of moisture close to the ground, is also accompanied by air quality nose-diving. The air quality index (AQI) — that anyway hovers in the danger zones of 300-400 or ‘very poor’ air — breaks through into the worst categories of ‘severe’ and ‘severe+’ (400+) triggering extended waves of panic among citizens already besieged by poor quality air. Fog does not necessarily increase the toxicity of the air, which is anyway beyond permissible limits, but brings in additional catastrophes from poor visibility. So far, at least 25 people have been killed and 59 injured in fog-linked road accidents across Uttar Pradesh, with the worst tragedy unfolding on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura, where a multi-vehicle pile-up turned into an inferno. Airline operations are in disarray in Delhi as 228 flights, including 131 departures and 97 arrivals, were cancelled and hundreds delayed on Monday.

The plummeting AQI saw emergency-level restrictions, called GRAP-4, come into effect in Delhi — it bans construction and demolition activities, pushes schools online and restricts the kinds of vehicles that can ply. On top of this, the Delhi government delivered a vacuous threat that vehicles without a pollution under control certificate would be denied fuel at refuelling stations, and those that did not comply with Bharat Stage-6 emission norms would be barred from entering city limits. This does not account for the fact that it is the residual emissions that are unabated in the capital region, trapped by moisture, that depresses the index. The Centre announces a spate of ‘meetings’ that do little other than regurgitate exhortations that are unheeded. This is the time that the Commission for Air Quality Management, an empowered body, must stress its independence and take year-round action to ensure that whatever the weather, Delhi’s AQI stays below 350.