Delhi Pollution: Mopping Floor With Tap Open!
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Winter is here, bringing with it a heavy pall of pollutant laden smog over Delhi, and on most of Northern India along the Indo-Gangetic plains. During October-February, and especially during the peak pollution months of November-December, governments at the Centre and in Delhi, as well as the media and even the Supreme Court, are suddenly abuzz with policy statements, articles and commentary about air pollution and what needs to be done. From time to time, different scapegoats have been targeted as being primarily responsible, and silver bullet “solutions” are offered.
The problem is, Delhi and other North Indian cities have consistently figured in the top 20 most polluted cities in the world for a long time now. Despite all the fulminations, little has changed. Except that the basic factors involved, the main pollution sources, and the long-term approach required toward a solution, are all reasonably well-known to scientists and decision-makers, but continue to evade strong targeted action due to powerful interests involved. These issues have been addressed repeatedly in these columns but are worth reiterating.
Beyond debating points and academic policy discussions, air pollution has become one of the most pressing, all-India public health crises, some would even say an emergency. About 17 lakh people are estimated to have died all over India in 2022 due to air pollution, and in Delhi, about 17,200 people are estimated to have died in 2023, about 15% of all deaths in the capital that year.
Increasing number of hospitalisations for major respiratory and related cardiac and other ailments, prolonged bouts of asthma including among children, and other serious issues including cancers have been reported in Delhi and elsewhere.
Read Also: Delhi Pollution: One-Size-Fits-All Won’t Work in Transport Sector
Obviously, outdoor workers, construction and other and informal sector workers, street vendors and delivery agents are among the worst affected. Poor and malnourished residents living in congested low-income areas with poor sanitation and hygiene are more vulnerable, along with infants, the elderly and those with pre-existing lung and heart ailments.
Air pollution clearly needs to be addressed on a priority basis.
Delhi Alone Not Affected
While Delhi has been grabbing the headlines, air pollution is a chronic problem all over the country, to a lesser or greater extent.
Cities and towns in the Indo-Gangetic plains have higher annual average air pollution (classed as ‘Moderate’ to ‘Poor’, corresponding to the multi-parameter Air Quality Index or AQI values of 101-300) than peninsular India and along either coast (‘Satisfactory’ to ‘Moderate’ or AQI 51-200) with many more ‘good’ days than in Northern India.
The Northern plains are characterised by the winter “inversion” in which colder, heavier air laden with pollutants is trapped under a layer of warmer air, taking pollution levels to much higher, more dangerous levels. Strong winds and sea-breezes along the coasts also help blow pollutants away. So, the problem is undoubtedly more serious in the North, including cities such as Guwahati.
The point is that all cities in India have much higher air pollution than the norm, given high population density, power plants, industries and other economic activities, and burgeoning often highly polluting vehicles. Even a quick search on the internet will reveal several surprises among smaller towns and cities with high air pollution levels.
India’s air pollution standards prescribe much higher norms than those in Europe, for example, which are themselves slightly higher than World Health Organisation or WHO norms. India sets a maximum limit for PM 2.5 (particulate matter of size 2.5 microns or 1000th of a millimeter) at 60 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre), usually exceeded many times over, against the European Union’s 20, set to go down to the WHO standard of 10 μg/m3 in 2030.
The EU also has tighter standards for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and other nitrogen oxides (together NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide and surface ozone (O3). All these latter are serious and very harmful pollutants that are rarely talked about in India, where particulate matter visibly contributing to smog, is focused on almost exclusively.
Particulate matter can be ground down to ever smaller sizes, such as by automobiles moving over road dust. The finest particles, such as PM2.5, can be absorbed into the lung and block pores impairing respiratory functions, whereas even finer particles can directly enter the bloodstream. Particulates also provide a convenient medium for other pollutants to condense around, and also for chemical reactions with gaseous pollutants to form “secondary particulates.”
The National Clean Air Mission launched in 2019 has set moderate targets of reducing PM10 levels by 40% in 131 cities (with poor air quality and one million + cities) by 2025-26, yet the progress as of 2023 has been poor against even these modest targets. Most funds under this scheme are unused and lapse. The Mission needs complete overhaul with stiffer targets and timelines, and systematic and rigorous monitoring.
False Solutions in Delhi
Over the past several years there has been a really confusing medley of analyses, commentaries and opinions in studies by multiple authorities on pollution sources and solutions, often contradicting each other due to differences in sampling, models and methodologies. As a result, there has been a lack of clarity on major causes, strategies for mitigation, targets and institutional mechanisms. There is a bad need to cut through the confusion and arrive at a broader picture than may inform potential strategies.
The confusion has also driven false narratives, deliberate attempts at obfuscation, and silver bullet solutions that would magically obviate air pollution over Delhi.
For many years, stubble burning by farmers of Punjab and Haryana has been a favourite scapegoat for the media, the Bharatiya Janata Party central government (since both states were governed by Opposition parties) and even the Supreme Court which repeatedly demanded strict penalties and punishment for the banned practice.
Many organisations and commentators, including in these very columns, had clearly shown that stubble-burning took place only over a very short period of a few weeks in October-November to clear left-over stubble after the paddy harvest in preparation for wheat sowing. Studies had shown that even this contributed only around 10% of pollutants over Delhi at worst of times.
Efforts by both Union and state governments to assist farmers in clearing the stubble through machines have been gradually bearing fruit, although much still needs to be done. Government data now shows an almost 90% decrease in stubble burning over five years. In any case, the current severe-to-hazardous pollution levels in Delhi, much after stubble-burning has stopped, should hopefully put an end to this canard.
“Anti-smog guns”or glorified water spraying systems, which could obviously only bring down particulates over a short distance were then pushed by the Delhi government, strongly supported by the SC! Then there was artificial rain by seeding clouds to generate rain, with an estimated 2-3% success rate across all international experiments. All this amounting only to mopping the floor while the tap stays open!
Fight The Real Problem
Cutting through the clutter, we can arrive at a broad characterisation of sources of pollution in Delhi based on considering data from all the different studies referred to above: about 40-50% vehicles, about 30% road plus construction dust, and the rest from Industries, biomass burning, brick kilns in surrounding areas etc. There could be some quibbling about these numbers, but the broad picture is not likely to change much.
If Delhi targets its vehicular or transportation sector, dust whether from construction or from ambient conditions, and industrial pollutants, coal-fired power plants and brick-kilns in neighbouring states, it would make a major dent in air pollution levels. But even today, the media reports that the Prime Minister’s Office is interested in yet another source apportionment study. There are no mystery pollutants to be unveiled!
It is noticeable that no authorities want to tackle the powerful automobile or construction lobbies, both of whom deny major responsibility and point fingers elsewhere. Press reports of a recent meeting in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) state that discussions revolved around dust, biomass burning, industries in surrounding areas, but no mention of vehicles!
The biggest offenders in biomass burning are not neighbourhoods but the 5 big Waste-to-Energy incinerators, run by private operators on behalf of the MCD, which reportedly burn mostly unsegregated solid waste including plastics at undesirably low temperatures of around 800C and spew out massive quantities of particulates and toxic gases such as furans and dioxins. These WtE (waste to energy) plants continue to operate with “green” signals even from the National Green Tribunal and the SC!
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Delhi is overrun with personal vehicles, 13 million for a population of 22 million! Obviously, pollution levels will be high, especially with almost 50% of these conforming only to obsolete BS-III or earlier pollution norms. The only answer is to massively shift passengers from personal to badly needed public mass transit systems. The Delhi Metro is a good contributor to mass transit, catering to about seven million passengers daily. As of 2024, it is estimated to have taken over 650,000 personal vehicles off the roads. But it is highly gentrified and oriented to the middle-class as regards pricing.
A large number of common people rely on buses for public transport, but Delhi’s buses, currently having about 5300 CNG and 1700 E-buses CNG Buses (about 4000 with DTC and 3000 with cluster buses, including 1700 E-buses. Transport planners project a demand for 15,000 buses, including small E-buses to serve interior roads, with good last-mile connectivity and integration. Delhi’s highly under-utilised surface railway system also cries out for revival and modernisation. Non-motorised transport, including dedicated bicycle tracks and pedestrian walkways, are also needed.
Construction activities require to be strictly regulated to control dust pollution. Another, mostly ignored and forgotten problem is the creeping desertification around Delhi due to the rampant destruction of the Aravalli Hill range for quarrying and real estate, removing the dust-shield the hills provided Delhi and its environs. Unfortunately, even the SC recently went along with the Union government in “redefining” the Aravallis in such a way as will further encourage desertification.
There are many battles to be fought.
The writer is with the Delhi Science Forum and All India People’s Science Network. The views are personal.
Delhi Pollution: One-Size-Fits-All Won’t Work in Transport Sector
Delhi’s chronic air pollution challenges are inseparably tied to how the city moves people and goods. The transport sector is a major and growing source of CO₂ and NOₓ emissions, shaped by a highly unequal mix of vehicle types, fuel technologies, and usage patterns. On one end are high-mileage commercial and freight vehicles running largely on diesel under relaxed emission norms; on the other is a rapidly expanding but still imperfect transition toward electric mobility, especially in the last-mile delivery segment. In what follows, we explain how different vehicle categories contribute to Delhi’s emissions profile and argue that effective de-carbonisation will depend on targeting the highest-emitting segments, rather than treating all vehicles alike.
Commercial vehicles (CVs) are the dominant contributors to CO₂ emissions in Delhi, accounting for over 60–70% of annual transport-related emissions. Though they represent a smaller portion of the fleet, CVs (defined here to include tempos, trucks, mini buses, pick-up lorries, and goods carriers) operate longer hours, travel greater distances, and typically run on diesel, which has a higher emission factor than petrol. Many of these vehicles continue to operate under relaxed regulatory norms such as BS III and exhibit lower fuel efficiency. This operational profile explains their disproportionately high emissions footprint.
The Electric Vehicle Policy (2020), which mandates 100% electrification of delivery fleets by 2025, has led to a noticeable shift from petrol to electric vehicles in the two-wheelers last mile delivery segment,
Commercial vehicles are also the leading emitters of NOx, followed by diesel buses. Within the broad category of commercial vehicles (CVs), heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) are likely the dominant contributors to NOₓ emissions. These vehicles are typically long-haul trucks powered by older diesel engines—combine high engine loads, poor real-world emission control, and long annual vehicle kilometers travelled, resulting in disproportionately high NOₓ output.
The large magnitude of freight-based truck movement in Delhi is driven by a host of geographic, infrastructural and economic reasons. Delhi is a logistics hub of North India, sitting at the intersection of a series of national highways affording fast and convenient road connectivity. It connects Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the broader NCR region making it a transit node for goods moving across North India.
Estimates suggest that about three quarter of fruits and vegetables and almost half of fuel, iron and steel and foodgrains destined for other states traverse through Delhi (Goel and Guttikunda 2015). However the thrust for electrification of HDT (heavy duty trucks) has been neglected in policy design. For example, the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles subsidy programme coverage in the second phase extends to two and three-wheelers, car and buses, but excludes HDT’s (Ministry of Heavy Industries 2021).
HDT’s have lagged in the transition to zero emissions both in terms of market development and policy support, leaving a significant policy gap that must be addressed. (ICCT 2024).
Emissions from private cars, by contrast, are volume-driven. Their per-vehicle emission load may be moderate, but the sheer size of the fleet, combined with rising vehicle kilometers traveled and private vehicle dependency—makes them a significant and growing contributor. This underscores the need to curtail car volumes and usage, through demand-side interventions like improved public transport and instruments like congestion pricing.
Emissions reduction strategies must prioritise high-mileage, high-emission segments, especially commercial freight and older diesel vehicles, which have a disproportionate impact on urban air quality. For Delhi to achieve sustained gains in both air quality and climate outcomes, regulation must evolve to reflect real-world vehicle usage.
The writers are researchers having interests in energy economics, transport economics and clean energy. They can be reached at: aiha2400869@st.jmi.ac.in and owaisibnihassan@gmail.com.
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