Toxi-cities

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VK SAXENA, the lieutenant governor of Delhi, arrived in Dwarka on the afternoon of 18 November 2024. Above him, the sky was grey and overcast, giving the appearance of a thick, dirty blanket. Delhi’s air pollution had reached its worst levels of the year. By 2 pm, the Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality monitors at fifteen locations hit their 500 AQI limit. They included Dwarka’s Sector 8, which had 1,927 AQI, according to IQAir, an independent monitor. The Commission for Air Quality Management, a statutory body set up in 2021, had moved Delhi’s Graded Response Action Plan into Stage IV, for pollution levels categorised as “severe plus.” (GRAP, a framework put in place in 2017, is a set of emergency measures meant to prevent further deterioration of pollution levels.) Schools shifted to online teaching, construction and demolition work was completely banned, strict vehicular restrictions were put in place, and advisories were sent out for offices to let staff work from home.

Saxena was there for the launch of an anti-smog misting system. As part of a pilot initiative, thirty misting nozzles were mounted on each of 14 electric poles across a 550-metre stretch of a six-lane road that divides Sectors 6 and 7, Dwarka. These sprayed RO-treated water into the air above the heads of passersby and vehicles. The water flowed from four 5,000-litre water tanks at a pump house nearby, set up by the Delhi Development Authority.

“In light of the severe air quality index readings in Delhi, it is crucial that we adopt innovative and sustainable measures,” Saxena told the gathered crowd. If the experiment succeeded, he said, it would be replicated in other parts of Delhi. As DDA officials held up AQI monitors and phones displaying monitoring apps, the people gathered around them appeared both excited and uncertain. I overheard two officials expressing scepticism about whether the operation could make a dent in such a dire situation.