While the national Capital has had a few good air quality days over the last few months
Despite a court order to clear the busy Anand Vihar bus terminal on a war-footing, the air quality in the area remained 'Very Unhealthy' on Sunday, according to a monitoring station report. The numbers reveal that little has been done to fix the problem.
According to environmentalists working with the government on the Local Area Action Plan, mid- and long-term measures, such as reducing the number of vehicles on roads by improving bus connectivity from the area to satellite towns of Noida and Ghaziabad, have still not been taken.
While the national Capital has had a few good air quality days over the last few months, the persistently bad quality of air at busy junctions such as Anand Vihar, Shadipur, and ITO among others, has remained an issue.
According to the Delhi government data, on Sunday, the air quality at 8 pm at Anand Vihar monitoring station fell in the 'Very Unhealthy' category, followed by Shadipur (Unhealthy), and ITO (Unhealthy). The overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded at 149, which falls in the category of 'Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups'.
"The air quality at this junction remains very poor because the mid- and long-term measures under the Local Area Plan have not been implemented. The steps to reduce vehicular traffic, which is a major contributor to bad air, are not being implemented. The place has high pollution level because of multiple factors, which all need to be tackled separately," said Vivek Chattopadhyay, Senior Scientist, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
He added that the vehicular traffic going to satellite towns from the spot was heavy, which could be reduced if there was a good public transport system, with CNG buses providing connectivity. Moreover, since Anand Vihar is located close to the Sahibabad Industrial Area and the Gazipur landfill site, particulate matter (PM 2.5) and other emissions from NCR add to the pollution.
Meanwhile, a Delhi government official said: "The measures under the plan are being implemented one at a time. It is difficult to take all the steps simultaneously, since the area is heavily crowded and is a centre of activity."
MONITORING STATIONS
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) is to set up 20 more monitoring stations, 14 of which have to be established by October this year. Six of these stations will be under DPCC, including Anand Vihar, Civil Lines, IGIA, R K Puram, Punjabi Bagh, and Mandir Marg. As of now, Delhi has 28 real-time air quality monitoring stations, being operated by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), DPCC, and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES).
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