Hi there! Namaste.

I am writing this from a neighborhood in Delhi close to major hospitals like BLK and Gangaram, sitting in the basement of the building, and still wearing a pollution mask. This petition is with respect to an issue which has been raised by many and solved by none, i.e.the never ending pollution in Delhi. There are more than 15 such petitions on this platform and I request you to let this one reach our leaders! 

With 29.5 million people, Delhi is probably one of the most populated cities in the World. Needless to say, with those many people, comes an enormous ecological weight which manifests in industrial and vehicular pollution. With the pollution and temperature touching 48 degrees celsius in the summer of 2019, we thought we had seen the worst. But, did we?

On October 27, 2019; India celebrated Diwali. Bursting of firecrackers has been banned in Delhi. Did we listen? No. Somewhere around then, farmers upstream started burning their crops at the same time. Result, an AQI of 580 on November 2, 2019 (For your reference, the range of 400-500 is denominated as "hazardous")  and AQI 999 on the morning of November 3, 2019. This was an all time high since the winter of 2017. 999 is as high as the scale goes. (Sounds like Chernobyl, yes!) Because, AQI was also recorded to be 1300 during the afternoon of November 3, 2019!

***PLEASE LET THIS NUMBER SINK IN. 1300 IS 2.5 TIMES THE AQI LIMIT IDENTIFIED FOR CLASSIFYING THE AIR AS "HAZARDOUS".***

There are 29.56 million people (probably, more) breathing everyday in the air with AQI way above the hazardous limits. 1300 is more than double the hazardous levels. Catastrophic? Definitely.

The sad reality is that this is an yearly ritual. The numbers tell one story and people tell another. A doctor at Gangaram Hospital has revealed that in the last few months, certain cases have come up with non-smokers developing Stage 4 lung cancer due to pollution. Not smoking, but pollution alone. Where earlier, this was still prevalent in the age group of 30+ which should've been warning enough, now this has started affecting the immunity of people at large. Many people are spewing brown cough and mucus. If this doesn't alarm you, what will?

WE NEED TO CLEAN UP AND THIS IS HOW!

We started learning from Beijing and installed ONE air purifier at ITO. We need to complete that lesson.

When the air quality in Beijing started deteriorating, the Chinese admin stepped up to save its pro-trade image and installed air purifiers throughout the city. This is an excerpt from a TOI article dated November 9, 2017- (when we saw this catastrophe for the first time),

"On September 29, 2016, the world’s largest air purifier made its debut in Beijing, where it was installed for a period of 41 days. Designed and conceptualized by Dutch innovator Daan Roosegaarde, The Smog Free Tower takes in polluted air – including ultra-fine particulate matter – treats it, and then releases clean air. The tower is 7 metres high, and can clean 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour, and more than 75% of harmful particulate matter, through its patented ozone-free ion technology. The tower uses less 1,200 watts of electricity per hour – equivalent to a tea kettle or water heater. Interestingly, it collects pollutants and condenses them into small cubes, which are subsequently used by Studio Roosegaarde for making jewelry and cufflinks – the famous Smog Free Diamonds."

WE SHOULD HAVE WOKEN UP TWO YEARS AGO! WE CAN STILL WAKE UP NOW!

The causes for poor AQI are many but we need to bring the levels down first, before we go for regulatory changes to ensure this doesn't happen again.

DEAR PRIME MINISTER, WE NEED AIR PURIFIERS IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS AND NOT JUST AT THE INCOME TAX OFFICE!

I request you all to sign this petition and request ---Honorable Prime Minister of India- Narendra Modiji, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change- Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan to take cognizance of the issue at hand and take steps to tackle it. I request you to join me to urge our leaders to help us get our fundamental right to life and to clean air that we can breathe in. 

I beg you all to believe that all is not lost and we can still convince our leaders to do something about it, QUICKLY.

Please sign and share this. May we win.