Invasion of India into Delhi has polluted it: Pt. Gautam Kaul

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man’s ingratitude; 
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot ~ William Shakespeare. This holds true for the current state of Delhi.

I was introduced to Delhi early in 1954 when I used to accompany my dad on his city visits. The city only had a population of eight lakhs then, out of which, five lakhs were the refugees settled in open grounds in different parts.

I remember Delhi as a very green, clean and rich city. There were hardly any vehicles on the roads, except for cycles and tongas. The only pollutant people added to the environment was ‘chullah’ smoke. 

When I was finally asked moved here in 1965, I had my aversions as I had started seeing the flaws in the urban planning of the city. The sewage system was only designed to accommodate two lakh people, but the numbers had risen multiple times even then. The refugees came to the city in multiple folds and brought with them poverty. The poverty and migration brought pollution as the city became unorganised.

Also, Delhi became a magnet to a population keen to participate in Nehru’s vision. Nehru encouraged industrialization and use of atomic energy for domestic use. His town planning ideas involved constructing roads, parks, recreation etc. Colonies were made in the city periphery to form a symbiotic relationship with the cities; but these colonies were left to survive on the already existing city infrastructure, and since the cities were not designed to cater such a huge population, the infrastructure started collapsing.

The main reason for the current state of Delhi is the uncontrolled urban expansion or the ‘Invasion of India into Delhi’. The reason that most of the people are moving to Delhi and adding onto the pollution is because we have failed to develop sister cities with similar facilities. The city offers best employment opportunities, medical facilities, education system, and a well-connected transport system. There are good hospitals in Bihar, but people would still come to Delhi as there is a lack of confidence in the efficacy of people and infrastructure outside Delhi.

Apart from unkind humanity and ill winds, the geographical position of Delhi makes it vulnerable to pollution. It is a landlocked city and thus has no place to flush its polluted air; cities like Mumbai/Chennai despite more vehicles have less pollutant content in the air as the air is ‘replaced’ with sea breezes. 

Delhi, on the other hand, receives more polluted air from the surrounding cities where there are huge brick kilns and sugar factories.

I strongly suggest that we start looking at long-term measures if we want to save this city from total destruction. First would be to ‘Decongest Delhi’ by making sister cities and making the non-essential government officers move to the interiors of the country. This was planned 30 years back, but because of bad infrastructure in other regions, nobody wanted to move. If we do this, we would also create trade/construction employments in these sister cities. 

(as told to Cheena Kapoor)