The Where is My Blue Campaign is a commitment that aims to bring individuals, businesses, organisations, and local authorities together to help achieve a less-polluted, low-carbon, and climate-resilient Gurugram.
Air pollution is one of the most severe issues faced by India at present. It is the 3rd leading risk factor for mortality. The quality of air in the city of Gurugram has deteriorated in the past few years, with industrialisation and
urbanisation steadily taking over. While these are important for development, it cannot come at the cost of the citizens’ health and wellbeing.
Now is the time to acknowledge how we are going wrong, recognize the shortcomings, and take appropriate action. If you wish our future generations to breathe in clean air, proactive steps must be taken as it is still not too late. However, in order to
truly achieve this, we need to bring key changes in both our professional and personal lifestyles that will help us mitigate the omnipresent air pollution in the city.
As an individual or business, you can start today by taking the pledge now!
Unfortunately, Gurugram ranks #1 as the most polluted city in WHO’s World Air Quality Report in 2018! There are so many factors causing this menace in the city. It ranges from having the highest vehicle ownership to poor public transport
infrastructure to never-ending construction and more. All of this clearly indicates the need for action to be undertaken at all levels — be it as individuals, community, corporate, or the administration — so as to combat and mitigate
the rampant issue of air pollution in Gurugram.
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Gurugram has the highest vehicle ownership in India. In fact, it’s even higher than Delhi and Chandigarh, cities that are known to have the highest per capita income. Vehicular emissions add to the ambient air pollution concentration,
which is much higher than the standard.
HIGH MOTORIZATION RATE
Though the size of the city and the length of the road network of Gurugram is comparatively much less than that of Delhi, the vehicle density is much higher because of lesser population and higher vehicle ownership. This means
that the road availability per 1,000 vehicles in Gurugram is much lower than in Delhi and other cities.
The number of people opting for public transport has dropped greatly in the past few years in Gurugram.The city has a metro line and has also begun increasing its bus numbers. However, the urban design of the city is not conducive
to enable deeper penetration of the public transport system into neighbourhoods. Poor last-mile connectivity and lack of integrated design impedes easy access to public transport systems.
PARKING MESS
Personal vehicles demand humongous land area for parking in Gurugram, with key locations like Cyber Park, Huda Shopping Complex, MG Road etc. showing that 80-90% of vehicles in the parking areas are cars and two-wheelers.
This indicates how personal vehicles are putting enormous pressure, not only on the road but also in public spaces.
With higher per capita car ownership, the city has gotten even more exposed to the risk of energy insecurity and higher emissions of heat trapping carbon-dioxide. Not only is the number of cars increasing, the markets are also steadily
shifting towards bigger cars and SUVs.
NON-USAGE OF CYCLES
Shorter travel distances make this city walkable and cycle-friendly. However, this strength is not being leveraged as people end up taking their vehicles even for a shorter stretch, with maximum daily trips for many being
less than 5 kilometres! While the maximum trip lengths are covered by buses, people tend to depend more on personal modes due to lesser availability.
The city is undergoing constant development and rapid urbanization. Who knows, there’s probably yet another project that has gotten approved as you read this. With innumerous industrial projects, construction of new flyovers and roads,
and a huge number of residential projects all across Gurugram — seeing construction underway is common and containing dust has become a major challenge, thus contributing even more to the air pollution.
The poor condition of roads in the city add to a huge quantum of dust emissions, with very few roads having wall-to-wall pavings to reduce the dust emissions.
STUBBLE BURNING
Since air pollution is not a localized phenomenon, crop burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana leads to an increase in respiratory diseases in the city around that time, typically in the month of November. According to
doctors, asthma and other respiratory diseases may be triggered during this time of the year, mainly due to the worsened air pollution caused by the practices of burning paddy stubble at the regional level.
Our planet is warming-up at an alarming rate- it is predicted that average temperatures will rise by 1.5 degrees in the next few decades. As Gurugram continues trudging on its path towards rapid urban development, it has taken a toll on the
city’s overall environmental state, especially the air. Air pollution and climate change are also closely linked, with climate affecting air quality and vice-versa, and with both directly or indirectly affecting health.
But it
may not yet be too late! We are optimistic that collective, concerted actions will contribute to a more secure and climate-resilient future for all of us. Now is the time to take a sustainable approach and give nature its much-deserved
chance to replenish and bounce back!
