Delhi pollution: Situation in national capital is worse than pre-CNG times, claims AIIMS director

Delhi pollution: Situation in national capital is worse than pre-CNG times, claims AIIMS director

Delhi pollution: The AIIMS director said that after the CNG was introduced diesel vehicles started plying on roads, construction work being carried out at a lot of places. Delhi pollution: The alarming state of Delhi pollution level has become a menace for the citizens of the national capital as well visitors to the city. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Randeep Guleria has claimed that “pollution levels have become worse than in pre-CNG era” and blamed lack of vision for the scenario. Asserting that pollution was a huge problem in the pre-CNG era also, he said, “Because of the noise made by the vehicles previously, CNG was introduced, following which the levels of pollution in the early 2000s came down, but we did not have the vision to sustain that,” he said. The AIIMS director said that after the CNG was introduced diesel vehicles started plying on roads, construction work being carried out at a lot of places. However, these activities were done with no planning in terms of having a green corridor or encouraging environment-friendly means of travel like cycling, pollution levels have become “worse than in pre-CNG era.” Guleria said these while delivering the ninth P N Srivastava Endowment Lecture on ‘Air Pollution and Health’ at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He also talked about the diseases caused by this alarming level of pollution. “In 1990, almost 60 per cent diseases were communicable, maternal, neo-natal and nutritional diseases. That figure has now come down to around 32 per cent. Non-communicable diseases, on the other hand, have gone from around 30 per cent in 1990 to around 55.4 per cent in 2016. This has meant a huge change in terms of health care providers too,” he said. The AIIMS director said human health was affected by “genetic predisposition and the environment”. “Genetic loads the gun but environment pulls the trigger… I see a lot of individuals who come to Delhi to study or for a job. These are the people who have never had any problem, but they start complaining of cough or chest congestion after they start living in the capital,” said Guleria.

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/delhi-pollution-situation-in-national-capital-is-worse-than-pre-cng-times-claims-aiims-director/1338131/

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