Opinion We shouldn’t have to wait for GRAP-3 to tackle pollution in Delhi

This long wait for air quality to become “severe” is questionable. It's similar to waiting for a heart attack before adopting a healthy diet

We refuse to unravel the complex web of urban instability that lies at the core of Delhi's pollution.

November 12, 2025 11:45 AM IST First published on: Nov 12, 2025 at 11:45 AM IST

Delhi’s festive season means many things: Lights, joy, sweets, and, of course, our most devoted seasonal visitor — pollution. The capital is now enveloped in a poisonous blanket that is thicker than the fog, even before the winter has properly come. In this gas chamber, suffocation and celebration coexist.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) has steadily increased from poor to catastrophic this year. Authorities, seemingly taken aback, have enforced GRAP-3 and GRAP-4 regulations when the numbers officially surpassed 400. GRAP-3 is activated when the AQI exceeds 400, and GRAP-4 is implemented when it crosses the 450 mark. At that point, trucks are stopped, schools begin to close, construction stops, older cars are prohibited, and everyone suddenly realises that air pollution is an issue. We seem to breathe in hope until then.

However, the problem is that these regulations, otherwise helpful, are not considered even when Delhiites struggle to breathe. GRAP-3 directs us to minimise vehicle emissions, cease construction, and stop utilising diesel generators. GRAP-4 goes one step further by outlawing the majority of non-essential cars and closing down significant industries. But this long wait for air quality to become “severe” is questionable. It’s similar to waiting for a heart attack before adopting a healthy diet.

Also Read | Express View on India Gate protest: Clean air is not charity, it is every citizen’s right

Beijing’s PM2.5 levels were cut in half in less than ten years thanks to tough enforcement, cleaner fuel transitions, and ongoing monitoring. Decades ago, New York City reduced car pollution, changing both its skyline and its lungs. Year-round initiatives have improved air quality and prolonged life throughout Europe.

Delhi, meanwhile, looks forward to November like a recurrent nightmare. The same script is followed each year: Denial, the blame game, indignation, emergency meetings, and GRAP.

Worse, our middle-class hopes — the air purifiers — are now choking. On bedside tables, they hum heroically in a futile struggle against air that won’t be cleaned. Respiratory discomfort is on the rise, schools are debating online learning, and people are taking to the streets to demand their fundamental right to breathe, only to be detained thereafter. However, our true predicament is obscured by the fog of political guilt. As if pointing fingers magically purifies the environment, one side blames the former government, another the present one, and everyone else blames stubble burning somewhere else.

We refuse to unravel the complex web of urban instability that lies at the core of Delhi’s pollution. The city suffers from unrelenting traffic and widespread urbanisation, where cars are growing more quickly than the roadways can handle them. Each festival becomes an occasion to compulsively burst crackers, as if smoke were a symbol of celebration, and unchecked buildings add layers of dust to an already suffocating cityscape. These routine decisions add up to a yearly disaster. Delhi will continue to experience the same oppressive cycle year after year until the city stops its addiction to cars, controls construction, and redefines celebration beyond fire and fumes.

In the end, achieving cleaner air is a shared obligation rather than the exclusive responsibility of the government or the individual citizen. Only when citizenship and the government cooperate will Delhi be able to breathe again.

The writer teaches at Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, University of Delhi