For Delhi’s air pollution and Yamuna’s cleaning center is also responsible
Manohar Manoj 
Delhi is in the news for its terrible air pollution and the severe water pollution of the river Yamuna on which it is situated. Every year in October-November, the news of Delhi which makes the most headlines, are both of these news. Notably, for the last two decades, the air quality in the atmosphere of Delhi has been in an average 300 i.e. very poor zone.Secondly, if we talk about the water of river Yamuna, it appears to be a perennial sewer drain whose water, leave alone touching it, one’s mind shudders just by looking at it. But the biggest irony is that on both these matters there is only a round of allegations and counter-allegations between the Central Government of the country and Delhi’s State Government.There is a fierce sword fight between the ruling BJP at the Center and the ruling AAP party in Delhi over Delhi’s air and water pollution. Both parties leave no opportunity for naming, shaming and blaming each other.But the national capital Delhi becomes the victim of this conflict between these two governments and these two parties, where it becomes difficult to breathe in the last three months of the year for the population of about three crores, which is the second largest in the world after Tokyo. Lakhs of people here become victims of breathing and breathlessness problems.The question is that the national capital Delhi, like other states of the country, neither has the status of a full state nor does the government here have full power.
Regarding this, it was believed by the country’s policymakers that Delhi is the capital and central headquarters of the entire country; hence the responsibility of the Central Government is also very important here.On this issue, the state police i.e. Delhi Police is under the control of the Centre. Apart from this, DDA and CPWD, the main agencies of urban development, were also placed under the control of the Central Government.On this basis, why should the Center not have a major responsibility for the air pollution of Delhi and the water pollution of its main river Yamuna, and its uninterrupted flow?
After all, Delhi is where the national legislature, executive, judiciary as well as offices of international embassies, national-international institutions and organizations are located in which thousands of foreign residents are employed, and where hundreds of diplomats reside. In this capital Delhi, where always some national and international events are organized all the time, guests from all over the country and abroad keep arriving.Lakhs of domestic and foreign tourists and businessmen come here, then how can the Central Government keep itself aloof from the interests of all of them? If the capital city of Delhi, whose history was written on the banks of the Yamuna River, gets absolutely polluted, then how can the Central Government remain silent by deferring its responsibility for this to the opposition government of Delhi?After all, the Head of the Central Government, Narendra Modi, who was once the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had cleaned and reclaimed the dried Sabarmati River in Ahmadabad. Narendra Modi, as the Prime Minister of the country, is currently talking about making the country a world superpower and developed nation, so why can’t he take the initiative to save the Yamuna River of the capital Delhi? After all, such an act will make his and his country India’s image brighter on the world map and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also get the credit for it.After all, to raise the pride of the country, Prime Minister Modi is continuously organizing a series of international conferences in this capital Delhi; sometimes the G-20 summit, sometimes the International Heritage Conference, sometimes the International Telecommunication Conference, Sometimes an international cooperative conference, sometimes a national language conference and sometimes a fisheries conference. When the national and international participants of these conferences visit the Yamuna River to see the grandeur of India, what reaction would they have about India?Similarly, if we talk about the air pollution of Delhi, the AQI i.e. Air Quality Index whose first category is zero to fifty, the second category is fifty to hundred, the third category is hundred to two hundred which is rated as ‘good’,‘satisfactory’ and ‘normal’ category respectively. However, the atmosphere of Delhi is rarely seen in these three categories. The level of AQI is said to be two hundred to three hundred i.e. bad, three hundred to four hundred i.e. very bad, and four hundred to five hundred i.e. worrying. Among these, Delhi’s AQI does not remain in the good category even on any day of the year. The only exception was the Corona period when on 31 August 2020, Delhi’s AQI was found to be 41 i.e. good. According to a data, only 25 days in a year the AQI is in the satisfactory category, 83 days are normal, 120 days are poor, 101 days are very poor and 25 days are in the worrying category.Let us know this fact very poor stage of AQI is considered to aggravate the disease of people suffering from respiratory diseases and a worrying level of AQI is considered to cause respiratory diseases even in healthy people. In this sequence, the day of 6 November 2016 happened when the AQI level of Delhi went down to 497. Talking about air pollution, apart from AQI, the second measuring scale is PM i.e. particulate matter i.e. the measure of metal particles present in the air.
On this scale, PM-2.5 is considered extremely lethal, in which ammonia, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone and glass, all these together form a particle, which is one-thirtieth of a human hair, enters the lungs of people through breath and give rise to fatal diseases. Talking about Delhi, 80 percent of the days of the year are polluted by PM-2.5 and PM-10.When the risk of air pollution increases in Delhi in the months of October-November, the burning of stubble left in the fields after harvesting paddy of Kharif season by the farmers of neighboring states Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is considered responsible for it. Its contribution to the total pollution of the capital is said to be 16 percent. Apart from this, there are reasons like around 1.5 crore vehicles running in the national capital, backward standards of purity of petroleum products, rapid construction of real estate, emissions from industrial settlements, dumping of waste and its inadequate disposal arrangements.It means, air pollution in the national capital Delhi and water pollution of Yamuna have taken the form of a deadly bomb which, after being explosive, can cause destruction many times bigger than a nuclear bomb. Rather, they are bringing it gradually and we and our governments are looking at it in a completely careless manner and the rulers are only engrossed in the game of politics. Because both the central and state governments know that votes will not be given based on pollution nor will they be sought based on its prevention.In India, votes are always cast on caste-religion-freebies and charity. Delhi assembly elections are going to be held in the coming February. In his political posturing, Delhi BJP President even took a dip in the polluted waters of Yamuna and fell ill and went to the hospital.On the other hand, governments are being reprimanded by the Supreme Court and the High Court on the pollution of Delhi and the foam arising in the water of Yamuna. Last year, Arvind Kejriwal had taken an oath to clean the 22 km long Yamuna in Delhi by 2025, otherwise, he would not ask for votes from the people of Delhi. But nothing like this happened. In such a situation, the Prime Minister of India should take a big call, whether it is through taking various initiatives to clean the atmosphere of Delhi or making the Yamuna River unpolluted.The government will have to understand how will the country remain safe when the central capital Delhi itself is not safe. In such a situation, the question of making a developed India is a long way off.