NCR’s choking reality
THE National Capital Region (NCR) continues to grapple with alarmingly hazardous air quality, a grim reminder of policy failures and recurring complacency. Despite dire warnings and sustained public health impacts, measures remain reactive rather than preventive, exposing millions to toxic air year after year. Recent days have seen the air quality index (AQI) teeter in the “severe” to “severe plus” categories, with readings peaking at 500 — one of the worst levels since 2015. Schools have been shut, work-from-home directives issued and staggered office timings implemented under stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). However, these are temporary patches on a deeply entrenched problem. The Supreme Court’s intervention, calling for stricter implementation of anti-pollution measures, underscores the urgency of action. Yet, questions persist: Why are such measures not proactive? Why has NCR’s air pollution become an annual inevitability rather than an anomaly? Contributors to the crisis are well-documented. Stubble burning, vehicular emissions, dust from construction and industrial pollutants have aggravated the situation. Adverse weather conditions, including stagnant winds, exacerbate the smog’s persistence.
Despite these known factors, long-term solutions remain elusive. Technological interventions, like air purifiers in schools and homes, or a temporary ban on certain vehicles, only address the symptoms, not the causes. The absence of robust, permanent measures — be it stricter stubble burning regulations, expansion of clean energy use in industries or investment in public transportation — reflects policy inertia. Such piecemeal solutions are no substitute for visionary policymaking.
The Centre and state governments must act collectively, prioritising stricter pollution controls, incentivising clean practices in agriculture and industry and investing in sustainable urban infrastructure. Without such long-term initiatives, the people of NCR will remain condemned to breathing toxic fumes every winter. The time for half-hearted measures is over — what NCR needs is bold, uncompromising action. The turnaround by Mexico City in this matter holds vital lessons for us.
