Tackling Delhi’s pollution
As I write this month’s edit and read the latest alarming update (Nov 18) about Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) at an unbelievable 492, with some areas crossing the dangerous 500 mark, two columns in this issue — Go Green and LBW — and the house built from plastic waste by Dr Paliwal from RC Chandrapur came to mind. But first let’s look at the pollution levels of the NCR (National Capital Region) being so horrific that the Supreme Court had to order serious curbs under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to improve matters. It ordered all the governments in the NCR region (Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan) to strictly monitor remedial action, including shutting down schools. The IMD had to issue a yellow alert and the visibility at the Delhi airport was a pathetic 600 metres!
Delhiites complained about their air purifiers not working any more (these are privileged classes who can afford air purifiers and live in secure homes; the plight of the homeless and pavement dwellers can be imagined) and experts suggested that people reduce outdoor activities, wear N95 masks, reduce vehicle emissions, etc. This is important, but a major culprit of the pollution in the NCR is the burning of crop residue, commonly known as stubble or parali, in Haryana and Punjab. This is done to shorten the time between harvest and sowing the next crop, and farmer find this a low-cost method to dispose of crop residue. But this releases harmful greenhouse gases which cause havoc in the surrounding areas. Statistics from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy says India generates around 500 million tonnes of crop residue a year; over two-third is used as fodder and fuel for industrial and domestic usage, but 140 million tonnes still remain in excess, and around 92 million tonnes are burned annually.
So what is the alternative to stubble burning? More extensive use for mulching, animal feed, composting, bioenergy production and construction material. It can be converted into pellets which could be used in power plants or construction. In some places an enzyme is sprayed to decompose the stubble into useful fertiliser or improve the soil by burying it in the fields. Interestingly, in China, which produces much more crop residue than India, it is considered a lucrative biomass resource in the production of power, as China tries to reduce its reliance on coal and petroleum by using crop residue to produce bioethanol.
Now linking this pollution to the content in the Dec issue, in Go Green Preeti Mehra gives simple tips to make “green habits” a part of our lives and in LBW, TCA Srinivasa Raghavan is nostalgic about the Delhi which once had clear blue skies before “it started becoming a gas chamber about 40 years ago.” He blames the Asian Games of 1982 for turning Delhi into a boom town which has not stopped booming, and expanding to incorporate the larger NCR, which is “so huge that when you fly into Delhi you can see the pollution the region causes rising up to 15,000ft and extending some 200 miles in all directions…. The Delhi of yesteryear, till the early 1980s, had two outstanding features: clear blue skies and clean air, both of which were free. The sky is still there but it’s grey-yellow and not blue,” he writes.
Instead of blaming our farmers for burning stubble and adding to the lethal pollution, can the government and Indian industry help convert unusable crop residue into pellets that can be used in the construction of millions of home India still needs?
Rasheeda Bhagat
