Lethal mix of fickle weather, pollution

Delhi summers

Reena Rawal and Hitendra Jham, both Bangalore residents came to  Delhi a few weeks back. Within this time of their sojourn both had to rush to a Gurga­on-based doctor to get themselves checked for respiratory problems. They had been facing breathing problems ever since their arrival in Delhi.

Dr Himanshu Garg, Pulmonologist, Artemis Hospital who is treating them tells Metrolife, “They already had ‘very minor’ asthma and bronchitis. But within a week or so in Delhi they had ‘full-blown’ bronchitis and asthma.”

“It still has to proved clinically whether it is because Delhi is becoming the most polluted city in the world. But yes, I personally feel Delhi is affected a lot because of air pollution,” the doctor says.

Lying on a footpath outside a plush five star hotel in Nehru Place and coughing incessantly Raahat Abad tells Metrolife “Winters are better than summers. We get blankets sometimes or sleep together in a small room under one blanket. But at least we don’t get diseases. In summers there is a fear of so many infections and diseases.”
Vijay Verma, an autorickshaw driver in the city voices similar sentiments, “Summers in Delhi are a terror!” He is waiting with trepidation for the really ‘nasty, prickly summers.’

“I am so happy that today it is windy and cool. This is surprising because it’s April and I was expecting it to be hotter. But somehow the weather this time has been really confusing. There is unseasonal rain in March, it gets breezy and cool and sometimes if you go out in the afternoon, it is so hot that you can get a running stomach,” exclaims Verma.

Vivek Chattopadhyay (programme manager, air pollution team) from Centre for Science and Environment says, “Air pollution is the single big reason for irregular weather in Delhi and major diseases at the moment.”The immediate concern is about the increasing levels of black carbon emissions, he tells Metrolife. Black carbon (BC) is the strongest sunlight absorber and is formed by the incomplete combustion of diesel, brick kilns etc.

They absorb a lot of sunlight and once they enter the lungs, can trigger a host of dangerous ailments.In a recent seminar held by CSE regarding strategies to tackle black carbon and its impact, environmentalist Sunita Narain said, “Heat-trapping carbon dioxide” is responsible for around two-thirds of the global warming while black carbon and short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) contributed to the rest. Narain said, “CO2 lives in the atmosphere for 100 to 500 years, while SLCPs have a much shorter life span – a few hours to 20 years. But the short-lived pollutants cause significant warming for the period they are in the atmosphere.”

Experts point out that while vehicular pollution – primarily diesel-run vehicles – were responsible for black carbon emission in cities like Delhi, in rural areas, black carbon is clearly indicted for local air pollution as it adds to the health burden of poor women who have no option but to cook food, using biomass on inefficient stoves.

The changing Delhi weather, especially this time, is a subject of heated discussions at homes too. Gita Mazumdar, a resident of Chittaranjan Park drives to pick up her daughter after school each day as she believes that “she will catch a heatstroke if she walks outside too much.”

As a ‘concerned citizen’ she  she “feels bad that I have to take out the car for covering less than one km distance. When winters come I feel sorry for those who have no homes, but in summers, I feel sorry for everyone,” says Mazumdar.