Bad air, so what?
That Haryana doesn't have a single working AQI reader tells you a larger story on govts across India
It's terrible enough that Indian cities are air pollution hotspots. Even more frightening is that the severity of pollution is underestimated. Last week, Haryana's last functional AQI reading station went kaput. 'Fun' fact: Since April, all 29 AQI monitoring stations in the state went offline due to lapsed contracts, unlikely to be functional any time soon. Two IMD stations are functional, one in a relatively green patch in the otherwise glitzy glass & concrete jungle, Gurugram, with its high SUV density and factories. Haryana's Faridabad has been India's most polluted city. Fifteen of India's top 100 most polluted cities on PM2.5 levels are in Haryana. So, it's extraordinary that the Saini govt isn't prioritising this, especially given the increasing burden of asthma and COPD.
Faridabad and Gurugram are part of NCR – consistently the country's most polluted bloc. In Delhi, when AQI hovers at 'poor', refrain is 'it's not so bad'. Think – to what extent polluted air is normalised and what our children breathe. Wheezing, sneezing, watery eyes, persistent coughs – children's quality of life is compromised from that very first outing in their strollers. The causal link between air toxins and rising incidence of asthma in children is known for years. And yet…
Here's the thing. Per a non-profit researching energy and air pollution, CREA, air quality in 250 of 293 Indian cities Jan to June overshot WHO's annual PM 2.5 standard. So, it's not hotspots alone. Last year Meghalaya's Byrnihat, home to an industrial park on the border with Assam, emerged among most polluted industrial settings – thanks to coke, cement, steel and brickmaking factories, all in scenic settings. Flaming red AQIs barely impact business practices. But it does redflag various govts failing to crack down on non-compliance of air pollution standards. In Haryana now, it's not even being measured.
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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
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