Amar Ujala - New Delhi
दिल्ली में वायु प्रदूषण ने बढ़ाई चिंता: ठंड की दस्तक के साथ खराब होने लगी हवा, आज एम्स के आसपास का एक्यूआई 255
दिल्ली में प्रदूषण से राहत की उम्मीद के बीच हवा की गुणवत्ता चिंताजनक बनी हुई है। बृहस्पतिवार रात आठ बजे तक दर्ज आंकड़ों में दिल्ली के 42 निगरानी स्टेशनों में से 32 पर वायु गुणवत्ता सूचकांक (एक्यूआई) 200 के पार रहा। इनमें 31 स्टेशन खराब और एक स्टेशन बहुत खराब श्रेणी में दर्ज किया गया। सबसे अधिक 306 एक्यूआई जहांगीरपुरी में रहा। वहीं, नौ स्टेशनों पर हवा मध्यम श्रेणी में दर्ज की गई।
केंद्रीय प्रदूषण नियंत्रण बोर्ड (सीपीसीबी) के आंकड़ों के अनुसार, प्रदूषण का असर दिल्ली के अलग-अलग हिस्सों में दिखाई दिया। विवेक विहार में एक्यूआई 295, चांदनी चौक में 287, पूसा के आईआईटीएम केंद्र पर 285, सोनिया विहार में 282 और रोहिणी में 281 दर्ज किया गया। बवाना और नरेला में एक्यूआई 270 रहा।
पीएम 2.5 का दबदबा
प्रदूषकों के स्तर पर भी महीन कणों की मौजूदगी प्रमुख रही। 42 में से 32 स्टेशनों पर पीएम 2.5 प्रमुख प्रदूषक के रूप में दर्ज किया गया, जबकि नौ स्टेशनों पर पीएम 10 प्रमुख रहा। वहीं, मैदान गढ़ी में ओजोन प्रमुख प्रदूषक के रूप में दर्ज हुई। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) के कार्यकारी निदेशक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी ने बताया कि वाहनों से निकलने वाला धुआं दिल्ली की हवा को पूरे साल प्रभावित करता है। मौसम की प्रतिकूल परिस्थितियां शुरू होते ही इसका असर प्रदूषण के स्तर में अधिक स्पष्ट दिखाई देने लगता है। इसके उलट, पराली जलाने का प्रभाव एक खास अवधि में बढ़ता है। इसका असर इस बात पर भी निर्भर करता है कि पराली जलने वाले क्षेत्रों से हवा दिल्ली की ओर आ रही है या नहीं।
आनंद विहार में वाहनों का भारी दबाव, एक्यूआई पहुंचा 190
आनंद विहार में वाहनों के भारी दबाव के चलते हवा एक बार फिर बिगड़ती नजर आ रही है। ताजा आंकड़ों के अनुसार, 22 अक्टूबर को आनंद विहार का एयर क्वालिटी इंडेक्स 190 दर्ज किया गया है। स्थानीय निवासियों और राहगीरों का कहना है कि लगातार रेंगते वाहनों से निकलने वाला धुआं और उड़ती धूल इस क्षेत्र की हवा को लगातार जहरीला बना रही है। आंकड़ों पर नजर डालें तो अक्टूबर में प्रदूषण का ग्राफ लगातार ऊपर-नीचे हो रहा है। इससे पहले 21 अक्टूबर को एक्यूआई 207 और 14 अक्टूबर को 237 तक पहुंच चुका है। संवाद
प्रदूषण की शिकायत अनसुनी की तो रोजाना 2000 रुपये जुर्माना
औद्योगिक क्षेत्रों में प्रदूषण से जुड़ी शिकायतों को अनदेखा करने पर संबंधित एजेंसी को रोजाना 2000 रुपये जुर्माना चुकाना होगा। डीएसआईआईडीसी ने ग्रीन एप और 311 स्मार्ट सिटी एप पर मिलने वाली शिकायतों का तीन दिन में समाधान अनिवार्य किया है। ओखला औद्योगिक क्षेत्र में सड़कों के गड्ढे भरने और निर्माण मलबा हटाने के लिए काम शुरू होने जा रहा है। दिल्ली राज्य औद्योगिक एवं अवसंरचना विकास निगम ने इसके लिए करीब 1.25 करोड़ रुपये जारी किए हैं।
काम की जिम्मेदारी ऐसी एजेंसी को दी जाएगी, जिसे निगम की तय शर्तों और गुणवत्ता के मानकों पर खरा उतरना होगा। काम के दौरान ग्रीन एप या 311 स्मार्ट सिटी ऐप पर प्रदूषण और मलबे से जुड़ी शिकायतों को अनदेखा करने पर एजेंसी को जुर्माना चुकाना पड़ेगा। एजेंसी को छह महीने के भीतर काम पूरा करना है। काम में देरी होने पर एजेंसी पर प्रतिदिन 10 हजार रुपये की पेनल्टी लगाई जाएगी।
दिल्ली की सीमाओं पर नियमों का उल्लंघन करने वाले वाहन रोके जाएंगे
वायु प्रदूषण को नियंत्रित करने के लिए बृहस्पतिवार को विशेष पुलिस आयुक्त (यातायात) अजय चौधरी की अध्यक्षता में अंतरराज्यीय समन्वय बैठक हुई। इसमें पड़ोसी राज्यों और जिलों की पुलिस तथा संबंधित विभागों के अधिकारी शामिल हुए। बैठक में फैसला लिया गया कि जो अंतरराज्यीय और अंतर शहरी बसें नियमों का पालन नहीं करेंगी, उन्हें दिल्ली की सीमा पर ही दूसरे मार्गों की ओर मोड़ दिया जाएगा। केवल इलेक्ट्रिक, सीएनजी और बीएस-6 मानक वाली डीजल बसों को ही दिल्ली में प्रवेश की अनुमति होगी। प्रतिबंधित वाहनों को अंदर नहीं आने दिया जाएगा।
आईआईटीएम के डिसीजन सपोर्ट सिस्टम (डीएसएस) के आंकड़े बताते हैं कि प्रदूषण बढ़ाने में 21 अक्तूबर को परिवहन क्षेत्र का योगदान 21 फीसदी से अधिक था, जबकि बृहस्पतिवार को यह 19 फीसदी से ज्यादा रहा। अगले दो दिनों में इसके 15 से 20 फीसदी के बीच रहने का अनुमान है। वाहनों से होने वाला प्रदूषण दिल्ली की हवा पर दबाव बनाए हुए है। पराली जलाने से होने वाले प्रदूषण की हिस्सेदारी भी बढ़ रही है।
Telegraph - Calcutta - West Bangal
Precious waste
When Shakespeare wrote, “When the hurly-burly’s done,/ When the battle’s lost and won,” he captured perfectly the sentiments of Bengalis after Durga Puja. The biryani and egg roll excesses of the past week are perhaps returning to haunt weak digestive systems, prompting many households to have avid discussions on it at the breakfast table. Excrement, ordinarily excluded from polite conversation, thus becomes a subject of great seriousness around this time. However, this concern about excrement ends with the push of the flush. What happens afterwards deserves some urgent attention because the economic cost of managing human waste is between 5.2% and 6.4% of India’s GDP.
There is also a serious agricultural reason to pursue the matter. A 2024 study estimates that phosphorus in human excreta is equivalent to 21% of the phosphorus applied through mineral fertilisers in India. This exposes an expensive absurdity: nutrients needed for cultivation are lost in a substance that municipalities must pay to dispose of. Recovering nutrients from sewage for agricultural use could reduce municipal disposal costs as well as farmers’ fertiliser bills. Calcutta has practical experience of this connection. In the East Calcutta Wetlands, nutrients from the city’s sewage support fish farming and vegetable cultivation, providing food and livelihoods through a system that requires careful management of health risks. The World Health Organization has described this as “productive reuse”. Elsewhere, too, human waste is being reimagined as something that should not go to waste. In Dhenkanal, Odisha, a project documented by the Centre for Science and Environment combines treated biosolids with organic waste in a ratio of one to three. The reported process takes 45–55 days, after which the compost is screened, tested and sold to government departments.
Times Of India - New Delhi
Only 35% ofDelhi’s major roads cleaned by machines, CAQM finds
NEW DELHI: An assessment by Commission for Air Quality Management has
found that mechanised road sweeping machines (MRSMs) are used to clean only
35-40% of Delhi’s large- and medium-sized roads on an alternate basis against the
prescribed norm of covering the entire road network.
Delhi has nearly 100 MRSMs against the required 172. In recent meetings, CAQM
has repeatedly asked road-owning agencies to use these machines to lift road dust
and reduce its resuspension.
A senior CAQM official said MRSMs are used to clean roads with a length of about
15,000km. However, a four-lane road has to be cleaned four times, leading to an
increase in the total number of kilometres that have to be swept in a day. A
machine is used to clean up to 30km in a day as opposed to the requirement of
40km.
“Around 70% of Delhi’s total network has roads less than 10 metres wide, which
are currently manually swept. The remaining 30% are large- and medium-sized
roads. Of these, 35-40% are cleaned using MRSMs on alternate days,” said the
official.
The machines do not operate on roads that are encroached upon or have vehicles
parked illegally. Experts have been demanding that in association with residents
and traders, provisions should be made to ensure there is no obstruction on such
stretches during cleaning by machines.
Dust is a major source of pollution during both summer and winter. A 2018 joint
study by The Energy and Resources Institute and Automotive Research
Association of India said dust accounts for 42% of PM10 and 38% of PM2.5
pollution in Delhi during summer. In winter, its contribution drops to 25% of
PM10 and 17% of PM2.5 pollution.
In Feb this year, CAQM issued technical and operational norms for deployment
and utilisation of MRSMs. It said an MRSM should be able to operate for at least
eight hours on shifts, with the schedule declared in advance for convenience of
the public. CAQM specified that large-size and medium-size MRSMs should be
able to cover a distance of about 40 running km during an eight-hour shift while a
small-size MRSM should cover a distance of 20 running km during a similar shift.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at Centre for
Science and Environment, said mechanised road sweeping machines have a
moderate impact on dust pollution as they primarily lift coarse particles.
“They are, however, more effective than manual sweeping, which causes greater
resuspension of dust. A major issue with these machines is the lack of clarity on
how many have been deployed in pollution hotspots,” she said.
Roychowdhury added that the machines are ineffective on roads with potholes or
unpaved surfaces and should, therefore, be used alongside a proper road
redevelopment programme.
An MCD official said, “MRSMs are deployed on roads with right of way (ROW)
greater than 60 feet. MCD is procuring 70 MRSMs for roads with ROW more than
30 feet. Narrow roads are swept manually through a fleet of about 60,000 safari
karamcharis.”
Urban Acres
Delhi’s Road-Sweeping Gap Exposes a Bigger Dust Pollution Failure
Delhi’s mechanised road sweeping programme is falling short not simply because the city has too few machines, but because its road network, operating targets and street-level conditions do not yet align with the pollution-control task assigned to it. An assessment by the Commission for Air Quality Management, or CAQM, found that mechanised road sweeping machines clean only 35-40% of the capital’s large and medium-sized roads on alternate days, even though the prescribed norm is to cover the entire road network.
The gap is visible in the numbers. Delhi has nearly 100 mechanised road sweeping machines against a stated requirement of 172. The machines are expected to lift road dust before it is resuspended by traffic and wind, but their actual reach is constrained by road width, vehicle parking, encroachments, potholes and unpaved surfaces. The result is a system in which the formal cleaning target is much larger than the network that can be serviced consistently.
This matters because road dust is not a minor or seasonal issue in Delhi’s air-quality problem. A 2018 joint study by The Energy and Resources Institute and the Automotive Research Association of India, cited in the report, estimated that dust accounted for 42% of PM10 pollution and 38% of PM2.5 pollution in Delhi during summer. In winter, its contribution was lower but still substantial, at 25% of PM10 and 17% of PM2.5 pollution.
The figures do not mean that mechanised sweeping alone can resolve Delhi’s pollution crisis. They show instead why the city’s road-maintenance and street-management systems have become central to air-quality administration. A machine cannot deliver its intended pollution-control benefit if it cannot reach the kerb, if road surfaces are broken, or if parked vehicles and encroachments block the cleaning path.
Delhi’s network also creates a measurement problem. A senior CAQM official said the machines are used to clean roads with a combined length of about 15,000 kilometres. But a four-lane road has to be cleaned four times to cover all its lanes, increasing the total distance that must be swept each day. This means that a headline figure based on road length can conceal the operational scale of the task. The relevant question is not only how many kilometres of road exist, but how many running kilometres of lane must be covered, at what frequency and under what physical conditions.
CAQM’s own operating norms recognise this distinction. In February, the commission specified that large and medium-sized machines should cover about 40 running kilometres during an eight-hour shift, while small machines should cover 20 running kilometres in the same period. The reported operational performance is lower: a machine cleans up to 30 kilometres a day, compared with the 40-kilometre requirement cited by the official.
That shortfall suggests that procurement numbers alone cannot be used as a measure of implementation. Even if the city reaches the stated requirement of 172 machines, the programme will not automatically cover the entire road network unless the machines can complete their scheduled routes. Shift duration, route planning, road access, traffic management and the condition of the carriageway all affect the distance actually cleaned.
The distribution of Delhi’s roads makes the challenge sharper. Around 70% of the city’s total road network consists of roads less than 10 metres wide, according to the CAQM official. These roads are currently swept manually. The remaining 30% comprises large and medium-sized roads, of which only 35-40% are cleaned by machines on alternate days.
This is not merely a choice between two cleaning methods. It reflects the way the city has divided responsibility between road types and operating systems. Mechanised sweeping has been concentrated on roads with adequate right of way, while narrow streets remain dependent on manual labour. The MCD official quoted in the report said machines are deployed on roads with a right of way greater than 60 feet, while the civic body is procuring 70 machines for roads with a right of way greater than 30 feet. Narrow roads are swept manually by a workforce of about 60,000 sanitation workers.
The arrangement leaves a large part of the urban street system outside the mechanised programme. It also shows why machine procurement and sanitation staffing should not be treated as competing solutions. The city has different road geometries and different access constraints. Larger machines may be more productive on open corridors, while smaller electric machines are being considered for narrower roads. Manual sweeping remains the current system for much of the network, but the evidence cited by experts indicates that it can resuspend more dust.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director for research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said mechanised sweepers have a moderate impact because they primarily lift coarse particles. She also said they are more effective than manual sweeping, which causes greater resuspension of dust. Her assessment places a limit on what the machines can achieve: they can improve one part of the dust-control chain, but they are not a substitute for repairing roads, managing roadside activity or addressing unpaved surfaces.
The physical condition of the road is therefore an institutional issue as much as an engineering issue. Roychowdhury said machines are ineffective on roads with potholes or unpaved surfaces and should be used alongside a proper road redevelopment programme. This links air-quality management to the responsibilities of road-owning agencies, including the maintenance and resurfacing of streets.
It also raises a coordination problem. CAQM has repeatedly asked road-owning agencies to use mechanised sweepers to lift road dust and reduce resuspension. The MCD has its own deployment criteria and procurement plans, while the Public Works Department had not immediately responded to the report. The city’s road network is therefore being managed through multiple agencies, each with different assets, road jurisdictions and operational constraints.
For residents and traders, the street itself is where these administrative divisions become visible. Experts have called for arrangements with residents and traders to ensure that parked vehicles and other obstructions are removed during scheduled cleaning. CAQM’s February norms also require operating schedules to be declared in advance for public convenience. These provisions indicate that road sweeping is not only a back-end sanitation activity; it depends on public communication and compliance at the time and place of cleaning.
The procurement of 30 smaller electric-based machines approved by the Delhi government in September is intended to address part of this problem by cleaning narrower roads. The MCD’s plan to procure 70 machines for roads with a right of way above 30 feet points in the same direction. But the supplied evidence does not establish how quickly these machines will be deployed, which roads will receive priority, or whether their routes will be published and monitored against completed running kilometres.
That missing operational information is important. CAQM’s norms specify a measurable daily distance, but the assessment also shows that the city’s real performance depends on whether that distance can be achieved in actual streets. A machine that is available but blocked by illegal parking, unable to operate on a damaged surface or assigned to a route with repeated obstructions does not provide the same pollution-control benefit as a machine completing its scheduled coverage.
The data also complicates the idea of complete coverage. If 70% of Delhi’s roads are narrow and manually swept, and only 35-40% of the larger and medium-sized roads receive mechanised cleaning on alternate days, the prescribed norm of covering the entire network remains a system-wide target rather than an achieved condition. The evidence does not show that every road must be cleaned by a machine. It does show that the current combination of machine capacity, route productivity and road access does not meet the stated coverage expectation.
Delhi’s dust-control challenge is consequently a test of municipal execution rather than machine ownership alone. The city needs road-owning agencies to coordinate route planning, sanitation operations, parking enforcement, encroachment management and road repairs. The public also needs advance information about cleaning schedules, especially where vehicles and commercial activity routinely occupy the road edge.
The CAQM assessment confirms a substantial implementation gap: nearly 100 machines are operating against a stated requirement of 172, mechanised sweeping reaches only 35-40% of large and medium roads on alternate days, and machine productivity is reported below the prescribed 40 running kilometres per shift. What remains to be established is how agencies will measure completed coverage, publish route-level performance and extend cleaning to streets where road design and obstruction currently prevent mechanised access.
