AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI: A CASE STUDY
INTRODUCTION:
The capital city of Delhi, India has been
undergoing catalytic reforms in urban
demographics and infrastructure. The rapid
growth in population in recent decades
accompanied with the city’s economic progress
has resulted in deterioration of environmental
resources which is manifested in the city’s
status as one of the most polluted cities in the
world. Particularly, the air quality of the city is
worst affected due to various air pollution
sources. In year
1998, the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India designated Delhi as an air
pollution control area in recognition of the
severity of air pollution due to vehicular,
industrial and domestic sources (MoEF, 1998).
Also, as the capital of India and a global
hub for all the industries rapid development is
observed in the city as a result the sources of air
pollution in Delhi are increasing.
CAUSES:
Stubble Burning: Every year between October
and November, air quality deteriorates in Delhi
and its neighbouring states, as farmers burn the
residue after harvesting paddy to clear the fields
and make way for the sowing of wheat, despite
there being a ban on burning agricultural
residue.
Smoke from Punjab and Haryana travels to Delhi
leading to a spike in pollution levels. (Down to
Earth)
Vehicular Emissions: The Delhi Transport
Corporation (DTC) had 4,977 buses in 2014-15,
which reduced to 4,564 buses—or 413 fewer
buses—in 2015-16, as per the latest review by
the Union Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways in October 2017. Not just that, even
the average operational fleet of DTC reduced
from 4,180 in 2014-15 to 3,817 in 2015-16.
21% jump in registry of private vehicles: A total
number of 600,930 private vehicles (motorcycle,
scooter and cars) were registered in Delhi in
2016-17, as opposed to 495,624 in 2013-14.
93% vehicles on Delhi roads are private-owned:
As on January 1, 2017, Delhi had over 10 million
registered vehicles, of this 9.48 million is
private-owned, as per Delhi Transport
Department. In contrast, Delhi has a working
population (20-59 years) of 9.6 million, as per
Census 2011.
Natural and Meteorological Conditions: Due to
lower velocity wind conditions or no wind
conditions pollution is not able to escape the
area causing ‘Stagnation’. Also, sometimes due
to recirculating winds and generating
‘Recirculation’ the escaped pollutants and
retrained into the area causing air pollution
episodes.
Sometimes during cold temperatures or in winter
season inversion layer is created just above the
surface (lower height) and the pollutants are
trapped near the ground level causing ground
level pollution which directly affects the human
health and visibility factor.
This inversion layer can be induced due to
blocked solar radiation as a result of increased
air pollution in the city.
Initiatives
The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has
launched an advanced Air Quality Early Warning
System, which can predict places neighbouring
Delhi that are likely to burn crop residue on a
given day.
The system, developed by Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology, Pune, under MoES, uses
data of stubble burning incidents from the past
15 years to predict the date and place of the next
burning, and help authorities to act in advance.
Using the data, the Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing (C-DAC), under the aegis
of the Central Pollution Control Board, creates
probability maps to alert government agencies
about areas where the chances of stubble
burning is going to be high.
The system can also track pollution load from
stubble burning in places neighbouring the
national capital, using satellite data. It can
predict the air pollution level for next 72 hours. It
can also forecast the level of pollutants like
particulate matter (PM) 2.5, PM10, and dust,
 AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI: A CASE STUDY

coming from sources other than stubble whenever low inversion layer conditions are
burning. created.
This will help authorities to take preventive steps References:
to control pollution levels as well as mitigate
pollution from existing sources. 1. Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi.

Various studies are carried out to understand the 2. Down to Earth.

air pollution dispersion for Delhi by Centre for 3. CAS, IIT Delhi.
Atmospheric Science, IIT Delhi.
4. MoEFCC.
Other Control Measures:
Although the over all contribution of
industries is less as compared to other
sectors, air pollution control scheme should
be installed in every industry and should be
monitored constantly.
Carry out detailed emission inventory of the
city to collect the data for causes of air
pollution.
Data collection and generation are the major
steps to control air pollution in every aspect
and part of the country.
Vehicular emissions, pollution due to
construction, stubble burning in Haryana
and Punjab are the major sources and
should be controlled.
Stubble burning should be controlled by
incineration instead of openly burning the
farms and providing government support for
that. Also, wind patterns should be analysed
before burning any of the solid waste as to
where the smoke will be carried to should be
known.
Regular PUCs of vehicles and maximum
usage of public transport.
Water should be sprayed at the Construction
sites to make sure that the particulate
matter does not enter the air and remains in
suspension for a longer time.
Detailed analysis of meteorological
conditions to know the dispersion of air
pollutants.
Restricting some of the activities and usage
of private vehicles during winter season and