Anti-pollution measures in Delhi push daily wage workers into livelihood crisis

PTI New Delhi: As authorities in the Delhi-NCR impose restrictions to combat the worsening air quality in the region, the brunt of the anti-pollution measures is being faced by daily wage workers involved in construction activities whose lives have to a standstill. Workers who depend on daily earnings to survive said they are worried their children will starve to death. Construction and demolition activities (C&D) are banned under the current GRAP-IV measures that came into effect after many parts of Delhi reported "severe- plus" air quality (Air Quality Index above 450). Suman, a 45-year-old mother of two, says “If we sit at home, what will we eat? What will we feed our children?" She recently renewed her labour card with the hope of receiving government aid but she says it has been a futile exercise. "We don't have government jobs where salaries come automatically.

We survive on daily earnings, and without work, we have nothing,” she adds. A thick grey haze engulfed the national capital on Tuesday, with AQI soaring to 488. Delhi's air quality plummeted to the ‘severe plus' category on Sunday, prompting authorities to impose Stage IV measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) on Monday. These measures include a ban on construction and demolition activities, restrictions on truck entries except for those carrying ssential items or using clean fuel, and the closure of schools.