Capital’s Killer Air

HAVING RUN OUT of excuses, and with no one to blame for the capital’s killer air, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi now wants to undertake a costly experiment: cloud seeding. Even if it were to get the go-ahead from the relevant authorities, particularly courts, its efficacy in fighting pollution remains highly suspect. But that may not be AAP’s problem. For all that seems to matter is whether the attempt to make artificial rain allows it to hoodwink people into believing that it is doing something to mitigate the misery from the toxic pollution. If it had really cared, it wouldn’t have come up with such chancy diversions just when the capital is enveloped in a thick shroud of toxic pollution, with the young and old breathing poisonous air through sniffling noses and coughing throats. And it wouldn’t have to shut down schools and impose restrictions on vehicular traffic. Such Band-Aid solutions in the last 10 years of AAP, without Arvind Kejriwal finding a tenable way in concert with all other relevant authorities to handle what is actually now a round-the-year menace that Delhiites are obliged to put up with, are in fact his modus operandi. Doing precious little but shouting from housetops of wonders wrought. Unfortunately for Kejriwal, unlike the vastly exaggerated claims about health and education, which on close examination by domain experts have been found to be mostly untrue, he cannot claim success in reducing the pollution levels because these are measured daily by independent agencies in a well-established scientific process. Average AQI levels in the last 10 years have steadily gone up, despite better awareness about bad air and ways to check it. If Kejriwal feels helpless, it is only because the scientific measure of pollution prevents him from claiming the air in Delhi to be the cleanest for any city in the country. Regardless, he still manages to cash in on the annual suffering of Delhiites, hiring hundreds of young men on handsome per diem who stand at traffic lights brandishing engine on-off signs. They, in turn, serve as AAP workers at election time. Such cunning has diminished Kejriwal’s appeal, his survival depending on a segment of voters still dazzled by ‘free bijli-paani’.

Meanwhile, we feel guilty escaping to Goa every year when the air quality gets worse in Delhi post-Diwali. Family and friends may envy us for getting away from the poisonous cauldron that is Delhi, but even Goa is not free from its own civic problems. The solitary premium coastal destination in the country is fast losing its mojo. Tourists, especially foreigners, are few and far between. Roads are broken. Power supply is erratic, fluctuating wildly with intermittent load-shedding. But prices of all things have shot up. An average Joe has to pay 15 to 20 per cent more for the staple dal-roti. For example, the price of local parboiled rice, which farm women sell squatting on the ground next to fish markets and in weekly bazaars, is now up 50 per cent. Simple-minded and generally straightforward Goans are catching up with the greedy ways of North Indians who now dominate the service sector. Plumbers, masons, electricians, carpenters, et al mostly come from Uttar Pradesh. And they are all doing well, earning better than they would in cities like Delhi or Mumbai due to the fast-expanding real estate sector. In fact, the only sector that is booming is the real estate sector. In many ways it is frightening, threatening to turn Goa into an unseemly town of gaudy villas and swanky flats for the richie rich from Delhi and Mumbai. How the land use is changed from agriculture to residential or commercial is in itself a scandal with politicians from the village panchayat to MLAs and even ministers and bureaucrats colluding with the builders who, again with a rare exception or two, come from Delhi and Mumbai. Small wonder prices of real estate have shot up, particularly in North Goa, by over 80 to 90 per cent. What has further fuelled the real-estate boom is the opening of the second airport in North Goa a year ago, which has reduced the distance from the airport to home in North Goa by 15km. Maybe, we were mistaken to believe that Goa would stay immune from the corruption that permeates every facet of life in the rest of the country. Its mainstreaming in that sense is complete. Realtors now fund Goa politics; earlier, it was the mining lobby which, after the Supreme Court intervention, lies dormant. Yet, quality of life is still better. You breathe clean air, eat veggies and fruits which taste better than in Delhi. And, above all, you get fresh prawns and pomfrets at affordable prices. Retirees can have no complaints, really.

AAP governmentAir pollutionAir Quality Indexcloud seedingDelhihuman health