As Delhi chokes, anti-pollution panel plays blame game

An inter-ministerial committee constituted to formulate guidelines for tackling air pollution landed in a mess of sorts with all concerned departments passing the buck while refusing to shoulder responsibility.

Acutely aware that air pollution will create havoc in the coming years due to human interference and an increase in urbanisation, the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) constituted a committee in 2014 to take a close look at the issue. The committee was comprised of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Maulana Azad Medical College and scientists from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

"The MoEF shouldered the primary responsibility for the project. After all, it was primarily constituted by the MoEF," said Dr A B Akolkar, Member Secretary, CPCB.

However, former Union MoEF minister Prakash Javadekar, said that responsibility lay elsewhere.

"After launching the NAQI, we made five states responsible for monitoring pollution. To that they were to have convened a meeting every three months. As far as the pollution committee is concerned, the MoEF made the CPCB responsible for any further action in the matter," Javadekar said shrugging off any responsibility.

"A major responsibility lies with the public as well. The public wants to travel in private vehicles, they burst crackers on various occasions without thinking of the environment and expect to find clean air everywhere. This is not possible until they also understand the situation and act," he added.

The major task of the pollution committee was to formulate guidelines for the general public on how to tackle air pollution. It was also supposed to formulate special guidelines for asthmatic schoolchildren. Doctors involved in the committee also recommended coping mechanisms for ever-increasing pollution such as using masks and avoiding densely polluted areas.

Dr T K Joshi, special adviser on environmental and occupational health to the Union Health Ministry had been a part of the committee. "Every year, the metric on pollution spikes around Diwali time. We recommended that there should be special guidelines for schools to identify children who have seasonal asthma so that they can cared for. The general public is unaware about the health hazards that pollution augurs. If information regarding various pollutants that go across the air, water, soil and noise are spread among the masses, problems can be solved to an extent," Dr Joshi said.