Every winter, Delhi makes headlines for all the wrong reasons. Thick smog covers the city, pollution levels skyrocket, and air quality drops to hazardous levels. It&rsquo;s a crisis that returns year after year, and while the government takes action during these peak months, the bigger question remains: are we doing enough, and more importantly, are we doing it all year round?&nbsp;
Experts and environmentalists have long pointed out that Delhi&rsquo;s approach to air pollution tends to be reactive. Most of the effort kicks in only when the situation turns severe&mdash;usually between October and November&mdash;rather than being part of a continuous, year-round plan.
The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which is supposed to manage pollution based on severity levels, is often seen as a short-term band-aid. It doesn't tackle the root causes or prepare the city for sudden spikes in pollution.&nbsp;
One of the major contributors to Delhi&rsquo;s poor air is vehicular emissions. Despite moves like shifting public transport to CNG and enforcing BS6 norms, the impact has been limited. The city still has a massive number of vehicles on its roads&mdash;around 8% of the country&rsquo;s total in a very small area.
Add to that the traffic congestion, and it&rsquo;s no surprise that pollution levels remain high. And while electric vehicles (EVs) are being promoted as the next big solution, experts caution that they&rsquo;re not a silver bullet&mdash;especially if the electricity that powers them comes from coal.
In response to growing pressure and criticism, the Delhi government recently announced a new set of policies. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta revealed that vehicles from other states will now be required to carry a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate when entering Delhi.
The idea is to tighten emissions checks and prevent highly polluting vehicles from adding to the city&rsquo;s burden. This comes after a CAG report highlighted serious lapses in Delhi&rsquo;s existing pollution control systems, pointing out weak enforcement and poor coordination between agencies.&nbsp;
Alongside this, the government is planning a major expansion of EV infrastructure. By 2026, Delhi aims to have 48,000 EV charging points across the city&mdash;18,000 publicly managed and 30,000 semi-private.
While this is a step in the right direction, experts stress that without strengthening public transport, these measures won&rsquo;t go far. If people don&rsquo;t have clean, affordable alternatives to driving, EVs alone won&rsquo;t reduce the number of vehicles on the road or the traffic that slows the city to a crawl.
The government is also planning to set up six new air quality monitoring stations and an eco-park for processing electronic waste&mdash;another often overlooked source of pollution. These may seem like smaller steps, but they&rsquo;re important pieces of a bigger puzzle. However, even the best city-level efforts can only go so far.
Delhi&rsquo;s air doesn&rsquo;t exist in isolation. Pollution flows in from surrounding states, carried by wind and weather. Experts say what&rsquo;s needed now is a joint approach&mdash;an &ldquo;air shed&rdquo; model, where Delhi and its neighboring states work together, much like they would in managing a shared water system.
Only by addressing the issue regionally can real, lasting progress be made. Therefore, Delhi&rsquo;s latest announcements show that there is political will to act. But unless these plans are part of a bigger, long-term, and better-coordinated effort, it&rsquo;s likely that come next winter, the smog will return&mdash;and with it, the same old questions.
(Vanshika Singh is a research assistant at the Indian Council of Social Science Research).
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Delhi aims for 48,000 EV charging points by 2026 —File Photo

Delhi mandates PUC certificates for other state vehicles entering the city, says CM Gupta

Delhi’s New Pollution Plan: Will It Clear the Air?

Delhi mandates PUC certificates for other state vehicles entering the city, says CM Gupta

April 14, 2025 | 16:27 IST