Nature Hack For Clean Air

Background of Delhi Hotspots

Since 2016, Delhi has been struggling with intensified cases of Delhi smog. The level of pollution is arising each year mostly during winters and around Diwali. Many National and State level initiatives have been taken over the years such as National Air Monitoring Programme, National Clean Air Programme, Graded Response Air Action Plan and Clean Air Action Plans. Since the past two years, the stubble burning cases by farmers of Punjab and Haryana inviting a higher level of pollution towards Delhi. This led to alarm the emergency situation and many immediate initiatives were taken by concerned authorities including both Delhi Pollution Control Committee and Central Pollution Control Board. The 15 days Odd-Even Program has been introduced by Delhi Government to control the harmful air pollution levels. In continuation to these 13 hotspots were identified from Delhi and 5 from NCR.

Hotspots were defined as the locations where emissions from specific sources expose individuals and population groups to higher risks of adverse health effects and also contribute to the collective health risks of emissions from other sources in the area. In 13 neighbourhoods in the Delhi regions, considered as hotspots, the air is harmful at most of the time of a day and monitoring stations are continuously showing ‘deep red’.

The Environment Protection (Prevention and Control) Authority [EPCA] directed Delhi Pollution Control Committee to implement Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for daily emergency actions from 15 October 2019 and also suggested to prepare local action plans with targeted air pollution hotspots. The Delhi Government also included hotspot actions in its winter plan. The hotspot action plans were planned to be finalised by 15 October 2019 and are expected to identify local pollution from non-compliant stack emissions, fugitive emissions, open burning of different kind of wastes for stronger and long actions towards reducing air pollution. The actions shall include a penalty for defaulters. The pollution hotspots also provide night patrolling and actions based on complaints received. The assessment of hotspots is not yet bound or defined within legislature.

Delhi’s extensive air quality monitoring grid with 38 real-time monitoring stations now allow more granular tracking of pollution across neighbourhoods and land uses. Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment has carried out a detailed analysis of the real-time air quality data obtained from the CPCB’s online portal Central Control Room for Air Quality Management — All India. This analysis shows that while particulate matter (PM) 2.5 concentration in nearly all locations of Delhi is much higher than the standard, several allocations have PM2.5 concentrations that are much higher than even the city’s mean level.

Following is list of 13 identified hotspots:

1. Okhla Phase-II
2. Dwarka
3. Ashok Vihar
4. Poothkhurd/Bawana
5. Narela
6. Mundka
7. Punjabi Bagh
8. Wazirpur
9. Rohini
10. Vivek Vihar
11. Anand Vihar
12. R.K. Puram
13. Jahangir Puri

The major sources of air pollution in these hotspots ranges include construction or road dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning and mismanagement, industrial emissions etc. Hence to provide the technological solutions to the above-mentioned issues and align technology transfer solutions in the air action plans (also mentioned in the National Clean Air Programme) it is imperative to focus on innovative technological solutions.

Micro-Level Action Plan consists of following major action points:

1. Declaration of no tolerance zone in the vicinity of hotspots.
2. Enforcement of all actions which are taken to ensure no tolerance zone.
3. Repairing and maintenance of roads and kaccha roads.
4. Greening and paving of open spaces.
5. Removal of encrochment on the roads in the vicinity of Hotspots.
6. Dust control measure and its strict enforcement in the area.
7. Prevention and control of biomass burning.
8. Prevention of unauthorized parking.
9. Removal of unauthorized hawkers/vendors.
10. Identification of non conforming industries operating in the vicinity of the hotspots and closing it down.