• Pollution
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According to a Greenpeace study, New Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world. The PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels have crossed the emergency levels of 500ug/m3. In a recent study done by the Centre for Chest Surgery in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Lung Care Foundation, Delhi’s polluted air could be leading to non-smokers developing lung cancer. Owing to poor air quality of Delhi, there has been 30-50% rise in cases of respiratory and breathing ailments. The major causes for pollution in Delhi are—  Vehicles: The increased number of grossly polluting vehicles like trucks and diesel engine vehicles have negated the impact of cleaner fuels and emission technology;  Combustion in power plants and industries : These power plants and industries use dirty fuels like pet coke, FO (and its variants), coal and biomass etc.  Garbage burning : Garbage burning in landfills and other places where there are no facilities of collection, processing or disposal of garbage;  Dust Management : The particulate matter from the roads, construction sites etc. adds to the particulate pollution.  Crop Residue Burning : This is primarily because farmers lack alternatives for disposing the stubble from fields.  Thermal Power Plans (TPP) : Delhi has 13 thermal power plants (TPP) with a capacity of over 11000 MW in the radius of 300km of Delhi. These power plants are expected to contribute to secondary particles. These thermal power plants contribute nearly 80% of sulfates and 50% nitrates in Delhi. The following are some steps which can be taken to mitigate the problem of pollution:  Development of Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) integrated with local transit systems to be implemented to provide seamless connectivity between regional and sub-regional centres of NCR.  Increasing the number of electric buses in Delhi.  Implementation of BS-VI fuel norms, spreading awareness about electric and hybrid vehicles, increased awareness about public transport etc.  Agricultural residue to be used in power plants by 2020.  Mechanized road cleaning at 25% and 50% roads in 2025 and 2030 respectively.  Infrastructure for collection and disposal (landfill and waste to energy plants) of MSW has to improve and burning of MSW should be banned completely.