Opinion Delhi has a winter plan, but clean air needs more than bans

The Delhi government has done the right thing in framing an anti-pollution plan before the dreaded smog sets in. Unlike the usual pattern of enforcing emergency measures, it has announced a set of restrictions in advance. The plan, which will come into effect from November 1, includes curbs on construction activities, tighter checks on vehicles and industries, higher parking charges, staggered office timings and work-from-home mandates. Most of these measures have been part of the city’s pollution-control arsenal for at least half a decade. By all accounts, they have had only a partial mitigating effect on Delhi’s pollution. A fragmented approach to pollution control has often proved to be the undoing of past plans. By setting the ball rolling early, the city’s administration has given itself valuable time to put in place coordination mechanisms between agencies in charge of waste management, air-quality monitoring, transport and law enforcement. Even so, it will have its task cut out.

In recent years, scholarly work has underlined that municipal limits or even the National Capital Region (NCR) boundaries are structurally insufficient to tackle Delhi’s wintertime crisis. The plan talks of coordinated action “on pollution arising from agricultural activities”, including discussions between agriculture ministers of NCR states. However, it seems the Delhi government has already been late in getting off the block. Stubble-burning season has started, and initial reports have indicated farm-fire incidents across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Experts also believe that the Super El Niño will complicate matters this year — it could reduce the rain-causing western disturbances, making even the temporary clearing of pollutants difficult. Peak stubble-burning could coincide with Diwali this year. As temperatures fall and wind speeds come down, Delhi will need to prepare for pollutants from multiple sources to overlap.

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In the past few months, the Delhi government has acknowledged the need to frame pollution control as a year-long endeavour. Its recently framed EV policy is a notable step in that direction. In the same vein, the winter plan talks of reducing traffic congestion and reliable and interconnected public transport. However, the city’s authorities will do well to ensure that bans and restrictions do not become the mainstay of the pollution-control strategy. Clearing Delhi’s smog will require creating a governance framework that rewards sustained reduction in pollutants. Measures to implement the work-from-home directive, for instance, will need to be framed in the language of people’s well-being, not coercion. In recent years, Delhi has indicated a groundswell of support for clean air. The Capital will need to go well beyond its latest winter plan to translate that demand into sustained political and administrative action.