00:00Shivani Sharma is joining us live from Delhi with more on this.
00:03Shivani, you know of course that this is an SOS.
00:06You and I breathe this air every single day.
00:09We've gotten used to it.
00:10This is the smell that unfortunately we associate with winter now.
00:13There are a whole lot of curbs that have been put in place,
00:16much like what we see every single year.
00:18It's not really making a difference, is it?
00:24Akshita, it's really unfortunate that while Diwali is around
00:28and Delhi is already lighting up,
00:31this darkness of pollution is lowering that shimmer
00:33and this is not happening for the first time.
00:36We know that every year this same problem comes to Delhi
00:39and there are claims that have come in from the government side.
00:43There are promises, there is Grab 2, there is Winter Action Plan
00:46but there are huge gaps in the implementation enforcement of this plan.
00:51You see on the roads of Delhi, there's no impact on the traffic despite the rules.
00:56So, where is this gap, Akshita?
00:58That's the big question.
00:59There are vehicles in thousands of numbers we see on the National Capital Road.
01:05It's festive season.
01:07The markets are bustling.
01:08But we also see that hazy, dark smoke that is actually impacting
01:13not only elders and children but everyone for that matter
01:17and it happens every day.
01:19So, this is really unfortunate, Akshita.
01:21The monitoring stations have been warning with severe and hazardous air quality indexes
01:27but there's no impact on ground.
01:29There's a blame game also that keeps on happening every year.
01:33The government of Delhi says that the stubble burning that comes in from Punjab
01:37is responsible for this pollution level getting higher and higher.
01:41But on ground, there are certainly lags that are there
01:46which are causing this pollution getting higher every day.
01:50So, this smog, this hazy sky above the National Capital Region
01:57is happening every day and every day, even before Diwali,
02:00the pollution level is getting higher.
02:02So, what is happening, what is going to happen after Diwali,
02:05that's a larger question.
02:06And how prepared is Delhi and the government for the situation?
02:09It's an SOS plan, Shivani.
02:11I mean, ideally, you'd think that this itself is an SOS situation.
02:14But we know that in Delhi, it gets far worse.
02:17What is the plan then of the government?
02:18Do they have a plan that is on standby,
02:20that kicks in the moment the pollution level goes up further?
02:27See, the plans, when we talk about the plans,
02:30there have been claims and there have been a plan that has been put in place.
02:34But there's no impact of that plan on ground, Akshita.
02:37If the plan was working and it was implemented properly,
02:40there should have been an impact on ground of that particular plan.
02:44But there is a certain gap.
02:46What is happening?
02:47The GRAP 2 is there.
02:48The winter action plan is there.
02:50The construction work is halted.
02:52The vehicles of non-BS6 are not allowed in the National Capital.
02:57But we do not see any change in the situation.
03:00And when we talk about the weather,
03:03it's being said that in the coming days,
03:04this weather is also going to be responsible for this situation in Delhi.
03:08And it can also get worsened.
03:10So it's not something that's happening to Delhi for the first time.
03:13There has to be a plan that should be implemented much before.
03:16So this all plan that has been implemented from 1st of November
03:20should have come in force much, much earlier.
03:22That's the expert I've been suggesting, Akshita.
03:25So this is what is happening to Delhi.
03:28The situation is getting worse.
03:30And even before Delhi, this is, before Diwali,
03:34this is the situation in the National Capital Region
03:35with the AQI going up to even 650 and 700
03:39at some places at the peak hours.
03:42So what was the plan?
03:43How it has been implemented?
03:45Where's the impact?
03:46That are the bigger questions that are to be asked to the government.
03:49Because this is the promise that the government had made.
03:53Even we know that the AMRB party government wasn't very...
03:57No, irrespective to which party it is, Shivani,
03:59it's the same story.
04:00And that's the reality of it.
04:01Unfortunately, pollution is something that's been normalized
04:05as far as Delhi winter is concerned,
04:07which is why you see no outrage as well.
04:09We're perhaps the only channel that even speaks of pollution
04:11on a daily basis.
04:12And that by itself should be a wake-up call to so many
04:14that we've kind of accepted it as a new normal in Delhi.
04:18Thanks very much, Shivani, for joining us with those details.
