New Delhi, the capital of India, is suffocating under the weight of toxic air.
Thursday, smoke from thousands of crop fires in northern India mingled with other pollutants to form a nasty grey cocktail that engulfed the megacity of New Delhi, reaching “hazardous” levels of smog.
On Thursday morning, IQAir reported PM2.5 levels of 588 parts per cubic meter. PM2.5 particles are the most harmful since they are so small that they can penetrate the bloodstream.
Nearly 40 times the daily maximum set by the WHO. According to IQAir, the air quality is currently “dangerous.”
“Right now is the absolute worst time to be in Delhi. Hem Raj, a 42-year-old police officer, complained to AFP about the city’s pollution.
“In the mornings, the body is groggy and exhausted. After hours of driving around New Delhi, “the eyes are always moist and the throat is always scratchy,” he remarked.
There is a lethal haze that blankets the city of 20 million people every winter due to a combination of factors including lower air, smoke from farmers burning stubble, and emissions from vehicles and other sources.
According to a study published in the Lancet in 2020, air pollution killed 1.67 million people in India in 2019, including nearly 17,500 in the capital.
The government of New Delhi frequently announces new strategies to mitigate air pollution, such as temporarily suspending buildings.
Despite efforts to persuade farmers in Punjab and other states to switch to other ways, they continue to burn rice paddies after harvests every year.
The Aam Aadmi Party, an opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, currently controls both the national capital and the state of Punjab, making this an especially contentious political issue (BJP).
Punjab, a state ruled by the AAP, has seen an over 19% increase in farm fires over 2021, tweeted BJP environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday.
To this, he continued, “There is no debate over who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber.”
I’ve been here for a while, and things have only gotten worse in that time. Brij Lal, 54, another policeman, commented on how difficult it is to work the 8-10 hour shifts on the New Delhi highways due to the widespread effects of pollution.
However, there is little that can be done because police officers must constantly patrol the streets and interact with the public.
