The campaign for ‘bad air days alert’ has been initiated in 132 non-attainment cities across India on the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
In a first of its kind campaign, concerned citizens, civil society organisations across India have joined hands to demand that all Urban Local Bodies (ULB) mandatorily issue timely health advisories publicly, to alert citizens on 'bad air' days, which will help save vulnerable groups from severe health impacts of air pollution.
Bad air days are when the air quality index (AQI) - pollutant measuring indicator - rises beyond the safe limit for any location falling either under the poor, very poor or hazardous AQI levels.
The online campaign (https://blueskies.jhatkaa.org/) has been initiated on September 7- the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. In its second year since its inception, the theme for 2021 is ‘Healthy Air, Healthy Planet’, which emphasizes the health aspects of air pollution, especially considering the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brikesh Singh, Convenor of Clean Air Collective - a national collaborative network of organizations, individuals, institutions working towards the common objective of clean air, informed that this citizen-led campaign is being carried out across 132 non-attainment/ million-plus cities via an online petition. Non-attainment cities are those that do not meet the prescribed air quality standards set by the Union environment ministry.
“Public health advisories should be issued by local ULBs on days when air quality severely deteriorates and is unhealthy for citizens. This is a mandate under the National Clean Air Action Plan (NCAP), which has to be implemented by every ULB of the 132 non-attainment cities," said Singh adding that citizens groups are very much aware of the time-bound action points listed under NCAP for respective cities and want to convey the same to the government.
Using this online petition, citizens will be seeking proper implementation of the Clean Air Action Plan for their cities and as part of this campaign, citizen groups across all non-attainment cities in India are being encouraged to also meet or write to their respective Municipal Commissioners demanding health advisory when air quality deteriorates.
The petition is being shared widely on social media and already over 20 organisations across states like Delhi, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and others have not only actively supported this campaign but are also taking it to more citizen groups.
Speaking about the crucial role of the doctors Dr. Arvind Kumar, Managing Trustee, Lung Care Foundation Chest Surgeon, Institute of Chest Surgery, Medanta - The Medicity said, “Doctors can play a very important role in issuing health advisories through various media like TV, Radio, Social Media etc. While Health Advisories can become an important public health tool to prevent the damage caused due to exposure to high air pollution levels, they also have the scope to encourage people to engage in outdoor activities during the cleaner days thus, helping people understand the relevance of clean air."
Kumar said that the health emergency caused due to air pollution is a very well established fact with no more scope of deniability as the findings of a recent study by the Lung Care Foundation highlight the link between air pollution & obesity, asthma and allergic diseases.
Dipankar Saha, Former Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shared that the AQI was created for public awareness and more understanding will lead to more concern among people and finally more reduction in a health risk.
According to Saha, ULBs must mandatorily issue health warnings when the AQI for a certain region crosses the safe limit to ensure the public can take appropriate decisions to protect themselves. “It should be done locally as far as possible to reach out to maximum people. NCAP has its focus right at the ULB level. We must ensure we take all on board and make them participative in this joint effort to ensure we breathe clean air,” he informed.
The recent Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) released by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) for 2019 revealed that air pollution was likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40 per cent of citizens by more than nine years.
As per Prof. SN Tripathi from the civil engineering department, IIT Kanpur, who is the steering committee member of the NCAP, the role of ULBs is extremely important across all 132 non-attainment cities as it gives them the impetus to enhance and expand monitoring networks, creates a data and dissemination mechanism (website, local media and radio), and thirdly manage the city properly (better traffic and waste management).
Tripathi stated that the ULBs also have to allocate monetary resources in line with these frameworks that have been provided under the 15th Finance Commission and NCAP budgets. “They need to focus on issuing health warnings associated with different air quality labels and communicating them to citizens daily for better awareness,” he said.
As of now, there are 280 continuous AQ monitoring stations in India, which is a 50% increase from 2019 and as per reports if the NCAP manages to achieve its objective of cutting particulate emissions by 30% by 2024, it can increase an average citizen's life by several years.
The push to make deteriorating air quality data public, through health advisories is only becoming the need of the hour as recently a first pan-India study conducted by scientists in India found that areas with poor air quality and higher emissions of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 are more likely to have Covid-19 infections and related deaths.
Divya Narayanan, Campaigns Director for Jhatkaa.org, which has created the portal for the citizen's campaign said that the pandemic had forced us all to seek out as much information as possible to safeguard our health and of our loved ones against the virus. “In the same manner, we must realise that we need to demand more information to be made widely available about the air we breathe, and its effects on our health. It's all the more important now in light of Covid-19, that we have information widely made available to us so we can make learned choices for our health on bad air days,” she said.
(The petition can be accessed at blueskies.jhatkaa.org)