City air cleaner after odd-even drive: Delhi government, green bodies

The much-touted odd-even scheme that is coming to an end on the 15th of this month is being credited for this spectacular turnaround. The latest data collected by mobile teams of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on Saturday confirms this.

The air you breathe is cleaner, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government has said. In fact, the government says pollution was down by as much as 50 per cent on Saturday. The much-touted odd-even scheme that is coming to an end on the 15th of this month is being credited for this spectacular turnaround. The latest data collected by mobile teams of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on Saturday confirms this.

"The PM 2.5 air pollution level collected from 18 locations on Saturday showed recordings of less than 100 (ug/m3) at nine locations, which is up to 50 per cent less than the average recordings since the odd-even regulation was put in place on January 1 for fourwheelers," a Delhi government statement said on Sunday.

On Saturday, even the PM 10 air pollution level has shown a marked decline at 18 locations with recordings between 135 and 475. At eight out of the 18 locations, the PM 10 level was recorded at less than 200. The government claims on an average PM 10 levels are also showing a drop of close to 30 per cent.

Green bodies agree with the assessment made by the government. An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said peak pollution during the odd-even run has been the lowest so far in this year as compared to 2015.

"This winter, out of all the severe smog episodes so far (with several consecutive days in the severe category), peak pollution during the odd-even rollout has been the lowest. This shows that despite the hostile weather conditions -- no wind, temperature dip and western disturbance -- peak pollution during the scheme has been much lower," the CSE said in its analysis report.

According to experts, earlier smog episodes have seen much higher intensity and much more rapid buildup compared to the rise that happened during the first week of the odd-even programme in the national Capital.

"Interestingly, pollution levels during November-December 2015 were much worse when the weather was stable. On the other hand, in January so far, with the weather being quite erratic, pollution levels are low. This proves that the reduced traffic volume has arrested the peaking of pollution. This validates the importance of the emergency action," Anumita Roy Chowdhury, the head of CSE's clean air campaign, said.

IIT-K report

IIT Kanpur said in a report recently that Delhi faces a severe air pollution problem due to the number of sources that are impacting the ambient air quality. Vehicular pollution in Delhi has grown to 72 per cent in 2000 from 64 per in 1990, whereas petrol and diesel consumption have grown by 400 per cent and 300 per cent, respectively.

Vehicular pollution is the second largest and most consistent contributing source to PM10 and PM2.5 during winters. Various control options including the implementation of BS VI, introduction of electric and hybrid vehicles, traffic planning and restriction of movement of vehicles, retro-fitment in diesel exhaust, improvement in public transport, among others, have been proposed and their effectiveness has been assessed.

Odd-even effect
"But this time, because of the odd-even scheme in operation, the pollution peak is less and so air is less hazardous (or not as hazardous as it could have been in these conditions). This is why governments take emergency action. This is why the odd-even scheme is so necessary in winter when pollution peaks," added Chowdhury.

Many residents are happy with the newly-implemented scheme. "There is no traffic on roads even during weekdays. Due to less number of vehicles on the road, the pollution level might have also improved. The government should continue with the scheme," Gaurav Singh, a Lajpat Nagar resident, said.

However, doctors in the Capital have not witnessed any downtrend in the number of respiratory illness cases. "It's difficult to say whether air is cleaner now. The number of patients has not gone down. We are receiving as many patients as we used to earlier," Dr JC Suri, Professor and Head of Pulmonary Medicine at Safdarjung hospital, told Mail Today.

"It will be too early to comment on the success of the oddeven scheme," Dr Raj Kumar, Head Of Department, Department of Respiratory Allergy & Applied Immunology, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, said.

Though doctors are skeptical, the decline in the pollution level is supported by the ambient air data collected by mobile DPCC teams at around 150 locations in the Capital. The pollution level was checked through mobile dust samplers by using the Light Scattering Technique.