There was once a time where the famous Dennis the Menace used to cause a menace to depression and low key lives for such was the humor and fun quotient in the cartoon. But what can one do when lives become a menace itself and that too, much largely to man-made issues and problems? For where truth stands then even the laugh riot Dennis the menace is nothing in comparison to the menace of air pollution in Delhi.
It’s not as though one would consider it a stigma to address the problem and that it cannot be addressed. The disparaging fact is that one is not willing to address the real nadir of our lives, one that is largely- if not entirely- causing air pollution in Delhi.
Now strictly speaking, where it comes to air pollution in Delhi, then there are a plethora of reasons that are causing the grave issue in the national capital, among them- stubble burning in the neighbouring state of Punjab.
Make no mistake, there are other reasons too that lead to this great nadir of our times, one that’s choked the life out of the Delhi-ities. Things like vehicular pollution, which could largely stem from needless motoring on the roads or vanity driving (driving for no particular reason at all) with other issues such as industrial pollution (that cause toxic fumes) making the situation a whole lot worse than it already is.
But all of that said and done, the key question where it comes to air pollution in Delhi is and will always be related to the following:
How did things come to a stage where this became a burning issue and just what did we all achieve with it?
Was there ever a need to pollute so much that the city’s administrators and government found no better option other than coming up with the proposal to shut down Delhi NCR in entirety, even though for a few days? Imagine the economic dissonance and repercussion that such a decision? What about those who are the sole breadwinners of their households; where do they go if, for instance, the entire city is shut because of pollution?
That being said, for the first time ever in these few days did the Supreme Court address the key issue of air pollution in Delhi.
And the following is what leading news platform NDTV had to say:
A visible improvement in Delhi’s air quality was recorded on Sunday although it was in the ”very poor” category while the city’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai said his government will submit a lockdown proposal to the Supreme Court on Monday to reduce pollution further.
The national capital recorded a 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of 330 on Sunday as against 437 the previous day as emissions from farm fires in Haryana and Punjab dropped significantly. The AQI was and 471 on Friday, the worst this season so far.
The above told, the following are the inputs from the venerable, his highness Justice DY Chandrachud on the “burning” matter:
“This is a crisis situation. We cannot go into new suggestions and systems now. Centre already filed over 50 pages affidavit earlier also and we have to make a way through steps already cited by them. On making that better…focus. so that we get something concrete instead of just criticising.”