Abstract
The national capital region of Delhi and Kolkata are the two metro cities in India worst affected by poor air quality. Multiple policies have been declared and implemented by the city authority in the recent past with the hope of improving the air quality of the cities and to attain the national ambient air quality standard. This study assesses that these present policies can help to reduce air pollution in these cities as much as 20% in the optimistic assessment, which may not be sufficient to attain the clean-air goal soon. During April and May 2020, the nationwide lockdown to control the pandemic of COVID-19 has unintentionally resulted in improved air quality due to force reduction at pollution emission sources. Significant pollution emitting sectors in NCR-Delhi are still not covered in current policy measures adequately. The substantial contribution of secondary aerosol formation from its precursor gases is still not addressed in any city-specific policies. The present study attempts to assess these gaps in current air pollution control policies. A way forward is indicated to empower these two polluted metro cities to attain clean air after lifting of the lockdown for the safety of the city inhabitants.
Highlights
Received: July 30, 2020 Revised: September 19, 2020 Accepted: October, 2020Publisher: Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research ISSN: 1680-8584 print ISSN: 2071-1409 onlineCopyright: The Author(s)
The observed level of PM2.5 during the past three years as well as during COVID-19 lockdown has been taken into consideration
Apart from the primary emission from PM2.5 sources, a reduction is likely from the secondary in-situ formation of PM2.5 due to a decrease in emission of precursor gases (NOx and VOCs) from the sources affected by the lockdown, such as the transport sector, residential combustion, open burning, etc
Summary
Publisher: Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research ISSN: 1680-8584 print ISSN: 2071-1409 online. Kazakhstan witnessed significant decline (21%) in ambient PM2.5 as compared to the previous year for the quarantine session (Kerimray et al, 2020) Both NCR-Delhi and Kolkata went to complete lockdown with the whole nation from 24th March 2020, which lasted three weeks till 14th April. During the lockdown period amidst the pandemic situation, both cities witnessed significant air quality improvement due to reduced or no activity in specific sectors, resulting in the lowering of pollutant's emission from sources. This lockdown is a temporary measure to control the pandemic and is feared to have profound nationwide economic losses. I have tried to assess the possible reduction effect of policies undertaken or implemented in NCR-Delhi and Kolkata city in the past couple of years, considering PM2.5 as the indicator
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