NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

 

There was a time when I used to smoke and smoke like a chimney. One day, I called it  quits. My lungs are now absolutely clear unless I happen to visit Delhi, which I avoid.

 

Over these years, my intolerance to Biri/Cigarette smoke has reached such extremes that I move upwind if I see a plume gushing out from anyone’s mouth. I can’t stand that sight.

 

Be that as it may. I pity the people of Delhi and NCR where the AQI levels crossed the 550 mark ‘on paper’. The actual figure must be close to double. In fact, I heard rumours that after the figure reached a particular ‘unthinkable number’, the government of Delhi stopped declaring the correct AQI as people might panic. Easy-peasy, as simple as that.

 

The myth of polluting vehicles didn’t work. Odd-even didn’t work. Blaming Parali and stubble burning didn’t work. Construction pollution didn’t fit the bill. Artificial rain and clouds didn’t work. Diversionary tactics didn’t work. Change of government didn’t work. Ban on crackers didn’t work. Restrictions on generators didn’t work. Triple engine sarkar couldn’t do a fig to get the AQI to manageable limits. Now what?

 

Imagine, of all the things the Delhi government banned the tandoor and tandoori items. My foot!

 

However, they could not provide people alternatives from burning clothes, plastic and cardboard to keep warm in winter. Most of the Tandoors are now gas fired, then, where is the smoke emanating from. Probably, the government will blame the chowkidars burning wood to keep cozy at night.

 

Schools were closed as if winters are a period of ‘national mourning’. Was this forced break declared because ‘smog' increases road accidents. Or, is it that those innocents would breathe better by staying at home. How Naïve?

 

If I, as a kid got a holiday like this, I would have played outdoors all day till I felt hungry or dead tired. Does keeping children away from school help in preventing pollution by not operating a few school buses while the teachers have no choice but to teach hybrid. Something doesn’t add up.

 

Yamuna is still frothing at its mouth in Delhi as if someone has poisoned it. The garbage dumps emanate a stink like never before. Everything else is blamed for the poor AQI including the previous governments. Even planting more trees has not helped.

 

This year half of Punjab was under floods and the rice crop which they used to be blamed for burning  stubble got washed away. So where is the smoke coming from? Pakistan cannot be sending such smoke or else they would be charged with Chemical warfare crimes.

 

Now a new ‘Shagufa’ has cropped up. Itiss the Aravallis which are eroding by the day which are responsible for the winds that ‘aired’ Delhi that are vanishing without funnelling the winds in the correct direction. We should not be surprised to see huge exhaust fans being installed at the outskirts of NCR to force artificial air movement. Who knows?

 

I remember my Dad, a geography teacher, who used to tell me about the great Aravali range and the withering they underwent over the years. We used to see hillocks and small ranges lining up the railway lines and national highways dotting the landscape as we went for holidays to Rajasthan. They are all gone.

 

Those rocky blobs have not withered but have been ground, crushed and churned too ruthlessly. The green cover has gone. Rocks, stones and gypsum have been consumed by cement factories or been shoved into the highways being constructed. There has to be an alternative for this massacre and method to this madness.

 

Having served with an infrastructure company which had hired mines in Kotputli region, I know the kind of legal, semi-legal and illegal mining activity happening there. The locals were fully aware and only interested in the fast buck. Companies took advantage and have ruined the area. The flora and fauna has been adversely affected. Life goes on.

 

Our judiciary has reached another pinnacle by declaring anything below hundred feet could be removed or mined. Hats off sir, I doff my hat to this suggestion.

 

Putin came and Putin went but the smoke goes on forever. He too smoked without a ‘pipe’. But the sources of pollution which are affecting the lungs of Delhi have not been identified till now. Mitigating the effects would come into effect only after that.

 

AQI is not only an issue of Delhi, it is pan India. It needs to be taken head on. Just one request to all the policy makers and the ones who interpret the law, please do not ban my Tandoori Roti and Tandoori chicken. I do not wish to die twice.

 

Save the Arvalli’s. Will anyone pay heed? I wonder!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

©® NOEL ELLIS