21^st March, 2021, 12 noon-1 pm

Participants: Dr KK Aggarwal, Dr Anil Kumar, Dr Dipankar Saha, Dr M Dwarkanath, Mr Vikas Singhal, Prof Meenakshi Dhote, Dr SK Tyagi, Mr SA Verma, Mr Pankaj Kapil, Mr Neeraj Tyagi, Ms Nina Gupta, Mr Narasimha MS, Ms Ira Gupta, Dr S Sharma

Key points from the discussion:  

• IQAir has recently released the “2020 World Air Quality Report Region & City PM2.5 Ranking”. This ranking has been done based on only PM2.5 levels.
• As per this report, India was the third most polluted country in 2020; 22 of the world’s top 30 most polluted cities during 2020 are located in India; Delhi is the most polluted capital city of the world and also the 10^thmost polluted city in the world (PM2.5 84.1 mcg/cu mm) and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region ranked as the second most polluted city in the world. This is very alarming.
• The WHO standard for PM2.5 is 10 mcg/cu mm; in India, it is 40 mcg/cu mm.
• 5 is not the sole parameter to rank cities; other pollutants such as SOX, NOX, ozone and VOCs are equally important. Chemical speciation of PM2.5 is also important and whether it contains hazardous metals or chemicals also needs to be studied.
• Either we have to re-think our strategy or counter the methodology adopted by the report.
• Delhi-NCR is landlocked and is in a difficult geographical location, very densely populated.
• The major reason cited in the report for pollution is transport; however, India has a scrap policy for older vehicles to phase out old and unfit vehicles. India has adopted BS 6 standards, directly from BS 4 fuel. India is switching to electrical vehicles and looking to use hydrogen as fuel.
• Whether the methodology or the indicator is acceptable or not, this report is guiding us to be more careful. It is a wake-up call.
• Geography plays a major role in creating pollution. Land is the most important source and is the most neglected.
• North India, especially the Indo-Gangetic plain, faces several problems during winter.
• Take the message in the right spirit and accept it. We have to improve ourselves.
• Fact is that PM2.5 is critical; maybe due to natural causes and man-made causes; take note of this and address this issue.
• Maximum number of polluted cities among different states is in Maharashtra and Maharashtra also has the maximum number of monitoring stations. Could this be a reason?
• Neighboring countries may not be having adequate number of monitoring stations. Therefore, they might not have figured in the list.
• India has done good work done in industrial pollution and vehicular pollution.
• We have to focus more on local and regional issues (such as burning of refuse, road dust resuspension, construction and demolition activities, burning at dump sites) and change focus towards these discrete sources of air pollution in the cities.
• The focus presently is on laws and measures, but not their effectiveness.
• The people are not being sensitized that we are heading towards a very dangerous and serious situation. People seem to be unaware that PM2.5 is a killer particle.
• The ambient air monitoring systems are placed near the source of pollution, where the reading will automatically be higher. The air in residential areas will be different. It is the air where people spend maximum time that needs to be monitored.
• High rise buildings are an obstruction to natural air flow.
• The report states: “Air pollution continues to present one of the world’s biggest health hazards to people everywhere, contributing to about 7 million premature deaths annually. 600,000 of these deaths are in children. From mental health, Alzheimer’s, and loss of vision to vulnerability to diseases such as COVID-19, 2020 brought another year of new insights into the extent to which air pollution can impact people’s health and wellbeing.”
• COVID-induced lockdown improved air quality in India. Major factors that are responsible for maintaining the air quality of an area may depend on its precipitation level and free movement of air, altitude of that area and vegetation and distance from water bodies, etc.
• Governments should prioritize clean and sustainable energy sources and cities need to promote carbon-neutral mobility choices, such as cycling, walking and accessible public transport.
• Geographical conditions cannot be changed, but we can create a good environment in the same geographical conditions.
• Controlled land use planning needs to be introduced.
• We have never tried to validate our standards of air quality, whether it still holds good.
• Particulate matter may damage lung, enter circulation and have adverse effects on organs of the body.
• The composition of particulate matter and its health impact will be different depending on geography, local climatological conditions, industries, land use patterns, socioeconomic conditions. Of these, geographical conditions contribute the maximum.
• Unlike the coronavirus, the particulate matter (PM1) will not replicate inside the cell. But if continuous inhalation occurs, it will result in repeated doses. It will convert to proinflammatory and procoagulable state and then to hyperinflammation state.
• Health Ministry and Environment Ministry should work together to create the importance of wearing masks. Besides protecting from COVID, masks can also prevent pollution-related illness.

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA