On the ITO crossing on Tuesday, a bunch of site visitors law enforcement officials sat in a room on the facet of the highway. The air was no higher immediately, with the AQI staying regular over the 450-mark. To keep away from staying out for too lengthy, they work in rotations and relaxation on this room.
“However we will’t abandon our obligation,” one of many officers emphasised.
“We’ve been supplied masks, water jugs and a room to relaxation in, however our obligation hours stay the identical.”
Air pollution, they mentioned, is a yearly phenomenon. “And yearly we get burning eyes and complications… we preserve ingesting heat water and tea with jaggery all through the day to assuage our throats,” the officer mentioned.
Day after day, Delhi’s frontline staff and the working class — site visitors law enforcement officials to auto-rickshaw drivers — proceed to courageous the poisonous haze, risking their well being for his or her livelihoods. Many endure from respiratory illnesses, burning eyes, and different well being points, but proceed to toil, usually with out satisfactory safety. The Indian Categorical spoke to some of them.
At a site visitors publish in ITO, Akash Kumar (31), a CRPF soldier hailing from Telangana, stood watching the site visitors cross. “We get masks from the federal government and the rules inform us to take relaxation usually and never keep out for too lengthy. However we’ve to remain out for our obligation more often than not,” he mentioned.
“The air is a lot better in Hyderabad. I didn’t wish to deliver my youngsters and spouse right here due to the air… I’ve learn on the information of infants and senior residents falling sick. I’ve by no means seen such thick smog anyplace else,” he added.
His colleague, Rajesh Kumar, agreed: “Within the first few days I assumed my eyes had been burning as a result of I used to be drained after doing evening obligation… I’m not feeling every other results however I do know they’ll present after we’re older.”
On the opposite facet of the highway, Meenu (51) was busy promoting dal-chawal and chole-kulche from his roadside stall, which he’s been manning for the final 30 years. “The air wasn’t so dangerous earlier than; it’s solely gotten worse within the final 4 to 5 years… I’ve began carrying a masks solely not too long ago. If I don’t put on one, I begin coughing and my throat burns,” he mentioned.
In Anand Vihar, the place the AQI has been among the many highest in Delhi, Dilip Choudhary (43) continues his work unfazed by the dropping air high quality. “I’ve to be right here by 6 am and I go away someday round 9 pm. I make possibly 15 to twenty journeys to the railway station every day,” mentioned the porter, ready for purchasers on the ISBT. “It will get actually onerous to breathe throughout this time of the 12 months, particularly when I’ve to hold heavy baggage… however I haven’t studied a lot and I’ve to discover a solution to ship my youngsters to highschool and help my household,” he mentioned, including, “I make sure that to have a cup of kadha with gud and ajwain each evening earlier than going to sleep.”
On the bus stand’s entryway, Harinder Singh (39) scans individuals’s baggage.
“There aren’t any security provisions for us,” the safety personnel complained. “The worst AQI is right here and we’ve to face within the open all day and breathe on this dusty air… lekin pet ka sawaal hai. Yearly, all of us complain of coughing and burning eyes… my chest feels so heavy on some days that I really feel like I can’t breathe,” Singh mentioned.
Requested why he doesn’t put on a masks, he mentioned, “We’re informed to not put on our masks, that folks must see our faces after we scan their baggage”. “They really feel suspicious of us too, you already know. We seem like dacoits masking our faces and searching via their baggage!” he laughed.
“It’s not simply our bosses; individuals who work with us themselves say we’re being dramatic after we wrap handkerchiefs round our face,” mentioned Geeta (50), who works as a safety guard as properly.
“Oh, it’s all garbage,” her colleague Ravi Yadav interrupted. “Sardi ka mausam hai, kohra hello hai yeh (It’s winter, that is nothing greater than fog). Nothing will occur to us,” he mentioned dismissively.
Ashok Yadav (32), an auto driver ready for riders, joined in: “It occurs yearly, and yearly there’s an enormous fuss about it. I put on a masks some days however my eyes burn and my head aches rather a lot… carrying a masks doesn’t assist with that.”
