Date published: 13/11/2024 – 12:06

3 minutes

Many people in the city cannot afford air filters and do not have homes that can effectively insulate them from the misery of foul-smelling air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.

Colder temperatures and slow winds trap deadly pollutants from mid-October through at least January each winter.

By dawn on Wednesday, levels of “dangerous” pollutants in parts of the sprawling urban area where more than 30 million people live exceeded 806 micrograms per cubic metre, according to monitoring firm IQAir.

This is more than 53 times the World Health Organization’s maximum daily recommendation for fine particulate matter (dangerous cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs).

At noon, when the weather is usually at its best, it rose to about 25-35 times above the danger level, depending on different regions.

Bikramjeet Singh, 25, who works as an environmental health safety manager walking the streets, said breathing in Delhi was like “smoking” and he worried about asthma patients.

“Older people have trouble breathing,” he said.

The city is shrouded in acrid smog every year, which is primarily blamed on farmers in neighboring areas burning stubble to clear their fields for plowing, as well as smoke from factories and traffic.

‘Worrying’

But a report this month by The New York Times, based on air and soil samples collected over five years, found that dangerous fumes were also emitting from a power plant burning mountains of city landfill garbage.

Experts interviewed by the newspaper said that the levels of heavy metals found were “alarming”.

Swirling clouds of white smoke also delayed several flights in northern India.

The India Meteorological Department said visibility at at least 18 regional airports was lower than 1,000 meters (1,093 yards), while in Delhi it fell below 500 metres.

India’s Supreme Court ruled last month that clean air is a fundamental human right, ordering both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.

But critics say squabbles between central and state-level officials, as well as rival politicians heading neighboring states, have compounded the problem.

Politicians have been accused of not wanting to anger key figures in their constituencies, especially powerful farmers’ groups.

‘Band-Aid’

City authorities have launched various initiatives to combat pollution that have yielded little results in practice.

Government trucks are used to regularly spray water to reduce pollution for short periods of time.

A new plan earlier this month to use three small drones to spray water mist was derided by critics as another “Band-Aid” solution to the public health crisis.

The World Health Organization says air pollution can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.

It is especially punishing for babies, children and the elderly.

A study in the medical journal The Lancet announced that 1.67 million premature deaths in the world’s most populous country in 2019 were attributed to air pollution.

Delhi’s choking carbon smog comes as researchers warn planet-warming fossil fuel emissions will hit a record high this year, according to new findings from the international network of scientists at the Global Carbon Project.

Researchers said that the increase in CO2 emissions from India, as well as the growth in international aviation, is also increasing emissions.

There is no sign that the world is moving away from fossil fuels as planned.

© 2024 AFP