Pollution ke side-effect: Nearly 3 members in most Delhi-NCR families fallen sick, says survey

New Delhi: Though the severity of the air pollution had dipped in the last few days due to wind direction, the situation started worsening on Saturday morning with several parts of Delhi-NCR recording a PM 2.5 of over 400. Online Community platform LocalCircles conducted a follow-on survey which received over 22,000 responses from residents of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad.

The survey asked residents - "How many members of your family have experienced pollution-related ailments since mid-October till now?" - to which the respondents indicated that on an average, 3 members in each Delhi NCR family surveyed have experienced pollution-related health issues in the last 3 weeks while the percentage of families experiencing problems has further increased from 80 per cent to 82 per cent in last six days.

Break up of data shows just 18 per cent of the 11,165 respondents to this question have no one in their household feeling the ill effects of poor air quality. Of the remaining, 22 per cent had one family member unwell; 12 per cent had two unwell; 18 per cent had 3 unwell; 24 per cent had 4 unwell and 6 per cent of households had 5 or more family members unwell. Considering that most households have three to five family members/relatives/friends living together, the survey outcome paints a picture of deep concern.

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The next question in the survey asked residents of Delhi NCR, "Who all do you hold responsible for the pollution-related ailments that you or your family are currently experiencing?" Many among the 11,371 respondents to this query held more than one entity responsible for the present air pollution crisis. But nearly 3 in 4 held the Delhi government responsible followed by 44 per cent also holding blaming the Punjab government.

The fact that other neighbouring states witnessed fewer stubble burning cases has not been lost as fewer respondents have attributed the responsibility also to them - 16 per cent of respondents have held the Haryana government responsible and 12 per cent the Uttar Pradesh government; 32 per cent respondents also held the Central government responsible for not leading a coordinated effort to control pollution and letting the state Governments of Delhi and Punjab fail.

Many among the respondents believed that the citizens of Delhi NCR are themselves to be blamed for the pollution. The data shows 8 per cent hold themselves and their family responsible; 20 per cent citizens of Delhi NCR; 24 per cent also hold farmers responsible while 4 per cent did not hold anyone responsible for air pollution.