New Delhi:
Even as winters intensify, with night temperatures dropping to below 18 degrees Celsius, most residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) in Delhi refuse to provide heaters to their security guards, despite an advisory that the same is necessary to prevent them from burning biomass to keep themselves warm while keeping guard in the open at night.
In light of the severe pollution levels in the national Capital, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), prepared by the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), has asked RWAs and private individuals to provide heaters to their security guards to prevent them from lighting bonfires, which emit pollution.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur’s “Comprehensive Study on Air Pollution and Green House Gases (GHGs) in Delhi” for the year 2016 attributed 7-12% of Delhi’s air pollution to municipal solid waste (MSW) burning. This includes both burning of garbage in landfills as well as in isolated spots.
Besides, garbage is burnt by residents in slum clusters and security guards in residential and industrial areas at night to keep the cold at bay. In December and January, Delhi’s peak winter months, the night temperature can go down to as low as 5 degrees Celsius in the city.
“We do not know who comes up with such advisories (of providing heaters to security guards)? This is impractical. First of all, RWAs cannot encroach on municipal land and create guard rooms because for heaters to function properly you need to have an enclosed space, not an open one,” said Atul Goyal, president of United Residents Join Action (URJA) of Delhi, an RWA federation.
{{/usCountry}}“We do not know who comes up with such advisories (of providing heaters to security guards)? This is impractical. First of all, RWAs cannot encroach on municipal land and create guard rooms because for heaters to function properly you need to have an enclosed space, not an open one,” said Atul Goyal, president of United Residents Join Action (URJA) of Delhi, an RWA federation.
{{/usCountry}}“Besides, the job of security guards is to be on the round in the colony. They cannot be sitting in a corner with heaters and blankets,” he said.
BS Vohra, head of the East Delhi RWA Joint Front, said, “Where would we get the electricity connections for the guards to use heaters? We can’t forge unauthorised connections. We provide them with warm clothes, overcoats, caps and gloves and that are good enough, we feel.”
In industrial areas such as Okhla, though, owners of factories are more inclined towards providing heaters to security guards who sit out in the cold all night long, keeping a vigil on the industrial units in the area.
“We have often noticed that they (guards) will burn anything – from wires and plastic goods to polythene – to stay warm. This time, we have sent circulars to all the 2,000-2,500 unit owners here to arrange heaters for the guards. The entire area will be filled with smoke by morning even if 2,000 guards burn rubbish at night,” Arun Popli, chairman of the Okhla Chamber of Industries, said.
Private individuals, who employ guards at their bungalows, also did not agree with the EPCA advisory.
“I don’t know who is sitting in their ivory towers and coming up with such suggestions. At a time when you cannot control stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana or burning of garbage at Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfills, you are asking private individuals to control biomass burning by their guards,” asked East of Kailash RWA president, Wing Commander JS Chadda.
“Can the proportion of pollution generated through other sources really be compared with what could be produced by a handful of bonfires lit by security guards to keep themselves warm at nights in winters,” he added.
Sunita Narain, member of EPCA, said: “We have given an advice and now it is for the people to comply. Whenever we ask for anything to be done, there is always an aggrieved party; however right now we should all be aggrieved at Delhi’s emergency with respect to air pollution. That is all I can say.”
ENDS