Mumbai: Clean air activists unite!

Some of the world’s top 50 most polluted cities are in India. Pic/Satej Shinde

For over 13 years now, Devrram Mahulkar, 33, along with his father Dayaram and a few others have been leading a fight for their villages of Mahul Koliwada and Ambapada over a ‘demand for clean air', running from pillar to post collecting information about norms, regulations and legal procedures to support their battle. However, citizens like Mahulkar, NGOs and even researchers battling to curb escalating air pollution in their cities now have a powerful resource and database at their disposal - the India Clean Air Connect (ICAC) platform.

Supported by the India Climate Collaborative and Asar Social Impact Advisors, the initiative designed by Bengaluru-based Sensing Local is a dynamic, community-centric digital resource hub for air quality stakeholders, including citizens, which aims to facilitate collaborative action in the air quality domain to check air pollution in the country.

The residents of Mahul - an area declared ‘unfit for human habitation' by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2015 - finally got a reprieve in the form of an NGT order in August 2020. Their tenacious efforts finally paid off when the NGT directed four firms in the area - SeaLord Containers Ltd, Aegis Logistics Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd - to collectively pay a fine of Rs 286.2 crore for the damage caused by ‘volatile organic compounds' emitted by their activities. Case studies like Mahul, past court cases, government notifications and many such resources including air quality data can now be easily accessed by citizens, organisations and even researchers on the ICAC platform.

Speaking with mid-day Mahulkar said, "There is so much data all over the internet but it is very difficult to verify how much of it is authentic. When the battle started, my father Dayaram and three others - Mohan Mhatre, Charudatt Koli and Dattaram Koli - had no direct information to aid their battle. They had to spend years collecting information, data etc. If there is such a portal it will make things much easier. I am glad the portal is launched."

Air pollution accounts for nearly one-third of the total annual deaths in india. Nearly 70 per cent of the top 50 most polluted cities in the world are in India; additionally, most Indian cities do not meet WHO air quality standards, putting much of the country's population at risk.

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Retired Mumbai Police ACP Dattatray Khot and his daughters have for years done research on the issue of vehicles idling at traffic signals. "We have proposed to have a parallel signal light (at signals as long as 100 seconds). With a cushion time of five seconds, people can switch off their vehicle engines when the parallel light is on (and the signal turns red) and then switch them on during the buffer time before light changes to green," Khot explained, asserting that research shows that vehicle idling at signals cause more pollution than moving cars.

"If data on initiatives to achieve clean air is available for peoples reference pan-India and even globally, it will be of great support," he added. Air pollution and climate change are closely interlinked. While a number of solutions to air pollution have been implemented, addressing the issue comprehensively requires a variety of stakeholders (policymakers, citizens, boundary organisations, and so on) to work collaboratively on solutions. Studies suggest that such system-level action is currently missing in the air quality domain.

Elaborating on the efforts Ankit Bhargava, co-founder at Sensing Local said, "ICAC emerged from the urgent need recognised by air quality organisations to unite stakeholders, bridge knowledge disparities, and monitor sectoral and regional advancements to minimise redundancies or avoid duplication of efforts." According to Bhargava, the platform serves to aggregate knowledge, data and opportunities to foster a shared resource pool that facilitates peer learning and aligns efforts.

About the ICAC database

With a database of more than 350 air quality actors in over 100 cities and 16 countries, as well as 74 international and national sources of data and knowledge, and over 70 networks in the ecosystem, the ICAC platform brings together organisations, individuals, and networks working on air quality in India across sectors and geographies, for collective action on air pollution.

ICAC especially aims to break the siloed nature of sectors and stakeholders in the air quality domain. "Air pollution is a complex challenge that requires collective action from all stakeholders to bridge key gaps and promote ecosystem-wide collaborations, regional partnerships and innovative solutions where ICAC plays a pivotal role," said Brikesh Singh, chief of communications and engagement at Asar.

A critical function of the ICAC is also to synthesise information. The platform features essential government notifications, relevant air quality data retrieved from public sources, and a repository of past and present reports on air pollution. Users can access city and micro-action plans under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), as well as a comprehensive list of resource portals that present air quality data and knowledge from and on India. The platform also provides updates on major online and offline events related to air quality and job opportunities in the domain.

Additionally, ICAC offers a critical opportunity to leverage philanthropic capital as well. According to India Climate Collaborative CEO Shloka Nath, the air quality ecosystem in India is fragmented and severely underfunded, with funding limited to specific geographies and organisations. "Recognising this reality, the ICAC platform adopts an ecosystem lens, vital for effective clean air action in India. The platform can serve as a common space for funders to engage with a variety of air quality actors, understand ecosystem priorities based on evidence, and find like-minded stakeholders to partner with," Nath said.