'This is my family's lungs on the line': Cars24 CEO as 'very poor' air quality continues to choke Delhi

As Delhi continues to face perilous air quality through this winter, Cars24 co-founder and CEO Vikram Chopra has made a poignant appeal to its citizens and the government.

In an opinion piece for The Indian Express, the Cars24 CEO said that he wants the government to restrict cars, diesel or anything else that "pumps poison into the sky", even though he runs an auto-tech company in India. 

As per his piece, Chopra is anguished as a father and a son, as his 5-year-old son and 80-year-old parents are not able to step outside because the air stings their throats. 

"I am not writing this as a CEO. I am writing this as a father and a son. I have a five-year-old who should be playing outdoors, but instead asks why the sky looks dirty again. I have 80-year-old parents who hesitate to step outside because the air stings their throats. This is not a theory. This is not politics. This is my family's lungs on the line. And the truth is painful to say out loud: Delhi is suffocating because it refuses to do anything that makes daily life slightly uncomfortable," he wrote. 

Citing reports, he claimed that the odd-even rule implemented by the Delhi government in January 2016 reduced PM2.5 emissions by 14-16 per cent.

The Cars24 co-founder said that the scheme worked in real time but was scrapped because people found it to be annoying. He also mentioned how the COVID-19 lockdown gave a jolt to the system when it came to Delhi's pollution levels.

"In 2020, the lockdown revealed the full truth. When traffic, construction and industrial activity stopped, PM2.5 and PM10 didn't just fall. They crashed by 40-60 per cent. NO2 levels dropped sharply. The AQI at many NCR hotspots shifted from mostly 'poor' pre-lockdown to 'good' or 'satisfactory' during lockdown."

Analysing the problem further, he noted that Delhi is stuck in a loop of horrid air quality, GRAP restrictions, vehicle bans, and AQI returning to normal levels. Not just this, Chopra also offered some solutions that could've helped make the lives of Delhiites easier. 

These included congestion pricing to reduce peak traffic, seasonal diesel restrictions, real-time emissions monitoring to force compliance, satellite-linked payments to stop stubble burning, and a functioning public transport system, which would've made owning a car a lifestyle choice instead of a survival requirement. 

"This city behaves as if clean air and comfort can coexist. They cannot. Not with the way we consume, drive, build and burn. Delhi wants to breathe clean air without giving up a single convenience. That entitlement is the real pollutant. The weather is not doing this to us. We are doing this to ourselves."