Dehradun, Late last night when most of us had wrapped up Diwali celebrations, Gati team was out on the roads of Dehradun measuring the air quality of the city, under the what they called “Diwali Air Pollution Mapping Exercise,” which was carried out three days in a row.
The entire exercise threw up horrifying results such as the pollution levels were fifteen to twenty times the national standards for PM 2.5 and PM 10. The pollution levels on Diwali i.e 7th November were almost upto ten times higher than what was measured on the 5th and 6th of November.
While the skyline was covered with dust and haze, a few stray fires were also reported at garbage dumps, most likely due to stray crackers. Pollution levels were much higher and dangerous in dense residential areas like Patel Nagar, Gandhi Gram, Jhanda Chowk, Clock Tower and Connaught Place.
What was evident, was the fact that there seemed no impact of any awareness or appeal made by media or social groups, to curtail the burning of crackers this Diwali season. Recent media coverage about air pollution or the timely intervention of the Supreme Court hardly made any impact on the ground which led to overnight pollution levels making air quality unfit, for men and animals, alike.
Such alarming results make us wonder, what is the next step forward? We ask Anoop Nautiyal, Founder, Gati Foundation, Dehradun, “there is a no single, simple answer, to this. It has to be a people oriented campaign, the responsibility rests with the people of the city, state and the country at large who need to take this forward. We need a ‘Swaccha Vaayu’ campaign along with the ‘Swaccha Bharat’ campaign. The next step forward would be stricter implementation of law and policy if any along with heightened citizen awareness for the issue.”
