OPINION: Seven Years of Air Pollution Shutting Down Delhi Schools - No Lessons Learnt

It's been seven years since Delhi's hazardous air pollution first shut down schools. Now it's happened again with primary schools closed from the 3rd to the 10th of November and senior schools given the option to do so.

As a parent it's clear that Delhi is far from solving the air pollution crisis every peak pollution season which is October onwards for much of winter regardless of what officials may say. Hundreds of thousands of kids, in Delhi and beyond, go to school in the morning in hazardous pollution.

The first time schools shut in Delhi was in 2016 exactly at the same time, early November. Then pollution, measured in PM 2.5 hit about 600 micrograms/cubic metre which is equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes. Since then schools have been closed because of hazardous air several times.

This year PM 2.5 hit a peak of over 800 micrograms/cubic metre at a place on Delhi's eastern border, Loni in Ghaziabad, over a 24-hour period on 4th November. Central Delhi didn't fare much better. On 3rd November it crossed highs of 600 in Punjabi Bagh and RK Puram (a residential hub for central government officials) while the day's average was almost 500. That's 33 times the WHO's safe limit for the day.

PM 2.5 is a microscopic pollutant usually a product of several other pollutants like lead, arsenic, nitrates, sulphates and so on, which is why its composition varies from place to place. Easily bypassing the human body's defences, PM 2.5 is linked to a wide variety of illnesses - chronic lung disease, asthma, heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, dementia and premature mortality amongst much else.

Just what happened on 2nd November when a thick haze enveloped Delhi? The PM 2.5 jumped 68% in a day to over 312 micrograms. This is based on an average of three dozen monitoring stations in the Capital. But pollution had begun rising days earlier with six stations crossing the 'very poor' 201 mark as early as 28th October and seven stations crossing the 'severe' mark on 31st October. By then half a dozen other stations were close to this mark as well. Could measures to protect children at least in these areas have been taken earlier?

Schools were finally shut as late as the evening of 2nd November, once pollution turned 'severe' on average across Delhi. As per guidelines, officials have the option to do so only after the threshold of 250 micrograms/cubic metre of PM 2.5 is crossed. (Many schools are shifting to online classes which runs the risk of poor students losing out, something seen during the pandemic.)

This is similar to what happened in New York around 8th June, 2023, and San Francisco in mid-November, 2018, where forest fires pushed pollution levels several times the long-term average. But both cities differ with Delhi in a significant way. They went way beyond just closing schools. They took action to directly help protect residents at pollution levels lower than what Delhi and its neighbourhood have been witnessing for days at a stretch.

New York's PM 2.5 was largely around the 200 micrograms/cubic metre mark for two to three days around 8th June and hit a peak of 406 briefly, and in San Francisco it hovered around 100-200 for some days briefly hitting a peak of about 300.

In contrast, many places in and around Delhi PM 2.5 have averaged around 300 micrograms for a week now. Is it time for direct help for residents? Consider what the other cities did.

The mayor of New York announced the distribution of a million N95 masks across New York City and state. The fire department listed nine places where these would be handed out. City-sponsored events were cancelled. The city's zoos and other such public spaces were closed.

New York had one bad day. Delhi has already had dozens of far worse days as a study pointed out, as have many other Indian cities.

In 2018, San Francisco's PM 2.5 hit a peak of around 300 micrograms/cubic metre. Apart from closing school it made public transit free and cancelled at least one significant sports event.

In Delhi, apart from shutting schools, there's barely any other emergency move which directly protects or helps citizens. No masks distributed, no free or even heavily discounted public transit, no crackdown on farm fires, no cancelling public events and closing public places. Cricket has of course continued despite concerns of several teams including the Indian captain.

The main pollution control protocol in Delhi and its nearby region referred to as Delhi-NCR is the Graded Response Action Plan by the Central Government. In the past month it has rapidly escalated from the first level to the fourth, from 'poor' air quality to 'severe+' with each stage bringing more curbs on construction and transport and measures like spraying water to suppress dust. A fair question then is what does GRAP achieve? What is the assessment of each level of curbs and measures?

The same pollution being emitted these days which GRAP attempts to control is emitted all year round, with the exception of farm fires and firecrackers. (Farm fires in Punjab and Haryana are rising and firecrackers haven't yet happened on scale.) Sure, weather factors affect air quality but the action to cut pollution needs to be all year round, not just a knee-jerk reaction.

(Chetan Bhattacharji is an air pollution and climate change journalist in India and writes from a global south perspective. He is a climate policy and communications consultant, and was senior managing editor at NDTV network, New Delhi.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.