[anjan_c2007]

The real causative factors have not been identified by any accredited environmental laboratory of national repute, finding and attributing the respective percentages of pollutants that several known and identified sources perpetually emit.

The hare-brained decision to ban privately owned cars (diesels 10 years plus and petrols 15 years plus) was totally lopsided, not properly researched, inequitable and shocking ! Owners have been deprived of their cars. Some had not even run 20,000 kms but de-registered and later in all likelihood scrapped, just for the age factor as enunciated in the court ruling. This has miserably failed to show any results whatsoever ever since such a ban was imposed. The last big move more than a decade back, to switch over all commercial vehicles to the CNG mode and ban the old, polluting commercial vehicles had paid rich dividends and the cleaner city air in the NCR was very much perceptible.

This ban of the older private cars was not at all based on any accredited, national level environmental laboratory research finding as a causative factor, but was decided based on the averments by parties argued before the court, that have turned out to be mostly hypothetical. Evidently, the softest targets to hit are unorganised private individuals, and this time it was the old car owners of NCR.

In any traffic survey, one can check out the numbers of such older private cars, that are less than 5 or 10 % in most cases in the motley mix of motor vehicles found being driven on the streets of the NCR. Only a handful of owners rely on such older cars as daily drivers and most of the private cars found on the NCR streets are BS IV compliant. The routine rate of attrition for older cars is quite high these days and the very few remaining ones survive with a handful of owners.

The de-registration of private cars has dealt a blow to many in the lower and middle income groups and retired people who cannot visit the showrooms to buy a new car ever. Also, the enthusiasts have been hit by the ruling of the court. Thousands of cars including Mercedes W115's, 123's, other imports , Contessas, 118 NE's, Premier Padminis, Fiat 1100 D's, Ambassadors, Standards, Jeeps and cars of several other makes have been erased and annhilated from the car scene in the NCR totally. These would have turned out to be prized classics, decades from now.

The NGT ruling of December 2017 however protects the 50 plus year old cars (section 59 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988) that can be driven for maintenance and rallies so all cars as on date older than 1969 are safer.

[deehunk]

Can we live without construction activities for few years? I don't know the percentage of green cover in NCR region, but what prevents the government from taking initiatives to plant trees? Stop filling each and every open space with buildings. The lack of will power among leaders is clearly visible across all the affected states.

[Sebring]

Builders and construction companies are running things these days. In Bangalore, Kumaraswamy proposed that no more buildings will come up for 5 years - since it is becoming difficult to manage, and he was quickly shown the back door. Its an unfortunate dance with the devil.

Originally Posted by deehunk

Can we live without construction activities for few years? I don't know the percentage of green cover in NCR region, but what prevents the government from taking initiatives to plant trees? Stop filling each and every open space with buildings. The lack of will power among leaders is clearly visible across all the affected states.

[silverado]

As per below article Delhi ranks 14th in Air pollution index in India
No one is concerned about the other towns which are severly affected.

https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/...739-2019-11-05

How effective are the Air pollution masks?
Do people use Purifiers inside cars as well in Delhi? I am sure the day has come.

How long will this stay?
Read a article which says this will reduce life by 7-8 years for residents which is really shocking.

Are electric vehicles going to make a difference when they become mainstream? Guess Maybe.

[alpha1]

1) Public attitude that can be summed up concisely in: मेनू की ?
This is exactly what happens when everyone just thinks of himself and his own convenience.

2) Govt attitude that is afraid to take any action against the vote bank.
Hence not even acknowledgement of this issue, let alone the resolution plan.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...IDp50EHOJ.html

And now, I am afraid some smart alecs will start playing the "Judical activism" card to derail any progress.

[J4J]

Originally Posted by silverado

No one is concerned about the other towns which are severly affected.

Exactly it is a pan north India (maybe even more) problem . Currently coastal areas are not affected much. But for how long we can't say. South Korea is also a country surrounded be water on all sides but they face this issue frequently.

Originally Posted by silverado

How effective are the Air pollution masks?

N95 and above category masks are useful to a certain extent. But the mask should fit the face 100% with all corners sealed otherwise its won't be effective. I have tried it and it is very irritating to continuously wear these masks.

Originally Posted by silverado

Do people use Purifiers inside cars as well in Delhi? I am sure the day has come.

I have seen many cars with purifiers in Delhi & Noida.

Originally Posted by silverado

Are electric vehicles going to make a difference when they become mainstream? Guess Maybe.

Our country's power generation is heavily dependent on coal. So even if cities switch to EV's the problem may resurface somewhere else.

I have observed a phenomenon in our country in last 5 years. A city is pollution free only till it is measured. As more and more cities are being monitored the count of polluted cities are going up.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Builders and construction companies are running things these days. In Bangalore, Kumaraswamy proposed that no more buildings will come up for 5 years - since it is becoming difficult to manage, and he was quickly shown the back door. Its an unfortunate dance with the devil.

I hope you are not saying that he was shown the door because he said that !

He was just wondering out loud. I dont think anyone can do that and ban any buildings from coming up. Its lack of planning and there is a will to not plan. People are busy thinking about making money. Environment is not the priority.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Was wondering about posting this in the official jokes thread. But posting here.

BREAKING NEWS...

At a famous Yoga Studio in the posh Lutyens area...in foggy Delhi..

... A yoga instructor got booked for Attempted Murder...

... for saying...

" Now...
Take a deep breath..."

😂😂

[Rajiv0909]

As much as I would want to believe that stubble burning is causing the pollution, it is far too evident from the data that bursting crackers is the reason. This is like Instant Karma

[Pam81]

Originally Posted by GTO

We were just discussing this yesterday over a family dinner! My biggest worry was Mumbai becoming like this in 10 - 20 years. Just hope that lesser cars + being an island with water on all sides + no stubble burning keep things better.

I'm alarmed by the pics. Take care, Delhi BHPians! Do any of you have an action plan? Example, air purifiers in the house or something?

I am not sure of Mumbai but Pune might become like this in a decade or so! Garbage burning is a serious threat in Pune's outskirts. There's dumping everywhere and absolutely no action taken! This must be changed only through Individual assertion in not throwing away at one's convenience (Once I threw it away, it's not my problem anymore)!

Unfortunately, I got sore eyes in seeing entitled & educated still prefer to dump bags of garbage in "Mula-Mutha" river which crosses the city. Even if you try to pick a conversation with such "SMART" people, they just whisked away or use "choice" words.

Another elite group of people choose 2am / 3am to set-off fires on big garbage dumps / mounds. You can't safeguard yourself from all of these only with Air Purifiers. I make it a point to tell fire igniters on garbage not to do whenever I see them doing it.

I have the same opinion as many others on Enforcement being extremely weak. A change in personal level in how we deal with environment must be the need of hour. Each citizen must do their bit in safeguarding. Otherwise, GOVT can never do anything.

About China, every Chinese person is proud & adhere to what their government did. A dream for India...!

[AGwagon]

I have lived in Delhi for most of my life and the conditions are deteriorating at an alarming pace and I believe if governments are willing, people of this region will not object to some drastic measures as well.

However, as many have said in this thread it is not a Delhi problem but extends to much larger area and the biggest contributor is the stubble/garbage burning. Trust me once you have seen with your own eyes you would never need any data to convince you.

And given the problem and the affected people are spread over many states, this is a national crisis problem that our head of state needs to prioritise and address. I challenge them to do their Yoga everyday during this time in the parks of Delhi, and I will see what happens to them.

I have never had any respiratory issues all my life but the past 2-3 years in this season I just don't recover from severe cough & cold lasting up to 45 days, and this is with best of precautions and care.

This year I have had cough & cold which started a couple of weeks pre-diwali, wherein I have visited 3 different docs, all our rooms in house have an air purifier blowing throughout, so has the office and now so has my car (it read 480AQI inside my Seltos on the 3rd). Heck, I even wear a N95 mask wherever possible, but to no avail. My little one has also been suffering from a similar plight (but less severe) and it brakes my heart to see her go through this!

I seriously feel that it is a problem which has a relatively easier solution and if our politicians can claim to solve the Big 'K' problem, this should be like a 'walk in the park'.

I sincerely hope they can smell the burning (rubber) and wake up before the phrase 'walk in the park' starts to be associated with something which is totally opposite!

Sorry for the long rant! But, we are really suffering.

[ZenMaster]

Originally Posted by DaptChatterjee

I am suffering from pollution induced cough for the last 8 days but am even more worried about my daughter who's just 48 days old.

One advice, Shift your kid to someplace else ASAP. Maybe parents or relatives in places far from Delhi.
Pollution can affect little children, especially newborns , in so many ways and can lead to many health problems like Extreme allergies, respiratory illnesses in the future. Their bodies are extremely sensitive and are not yet strong enough to resist this kind of torture to their lungs.

Do not expose the little one to this (apocalyptic) atmosphere

Studies have even found that children born to mothers who lived in areas with high air pollution have many health problems not found in children born in cleaner (air quality) areas.

[m8002?]

A noob question! Since the maximum impact is from stubble burning, why not stagger the burning over a larger period of time? I mean, why should every farmer in the states burn on the same 2 weeks. I have seen heatmaps with whole of Punjab and Haryana showing red!!

[RaviK]

Originally Posted by AGwagon

...However, as many have said in this thread it is not a Delhi problem but extends to much larger area and the biggest contributor is the stubble/garbage burning. Trust me once you have seen with your own eyes you would never need any data to convince you...

Indeed, as I wrote in another thread, I drove to Chandigarh 2 days after Diwali, and from Bathinda to almost Zirakpur, close to 200 KMs it was just smoke & smoke, with countless stubble fires raging here & there (the sun was not visible even the next day).

The stubble burning has become a widespread practice in recent years (you can witenss it in fields right in Zirakpur itself, a part of Chandigarh-Panchkula-Mohali Tricity)

[Passiautonate]

Originally Posted by m8002?

A noob question! Since the maximum impact is from stubble burning, why not stagger the burning over a larger period of time? I mean, why should every farmer in the states burn on the same 2 weeks. I have seen heatmaps with whole of Punjab and Haryana showing red!!

Unlike human who springs throughout the year, Crops sowing period is limited. Nowadays its common for farms to have 3 crops in an year leaving farmers limited time to clear the field.