- Delhi is rated as the capital with the worst air quality in the world.
- The level of pollutants in Delhi has reached more than 30 times the maximum limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
- The anti-smog gun has been ordered to operate at least 3 times a day in pollution hotspots.
The Indian capital has closed schools and coal-fired power plants because it is battling dangerous levels of air pollution in the region, which also choked neighbouring Pakistan’s Lahore on Wednesday with pungent smog.
In recent years, air quality in northern India and neighboring areas of Pakistan has deteriorated as industrial pollutants, smog from burning seasonal crops and colder winter temperatures merge into toxic smog.
Delhi has been rated as the capital with the worst air quality in the world, and last week’s pollutant levels reached more than 30 times the maximum limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
On Tuesday, the city ordered the closure of six of the 11 coal-fired power plants around the metropolis until the end of the month to deal with the dirty air.
This move came after India took the lead in weakening the anti-coal pledge at the UN COP26 climate summit over the weekend, with critics claiming that it prioritizes economic growth in the future of the planet.
Read also | Hard to breathe: The Indian Pollution Commission warns of an air emergency in Delhi
The Indian capital of 20 million people has also cancelled school classes and urged people to work from home, while prohibiting non-essential trucks from entering the city to clear the smoke.
In an order passed late Tuesday, the city’s air quality management committee stated that all educational institutions should remain closed until further notice.
“Anti-smog guns”-spray mist into the air-and sprinklers are ordered to operate at least 3 times a day at pollution hotspots.
The committee also stated that at least half of government workers were sent home, and private companies should follow suit.
The order was issued after the Delhi government opposed India’s Supreme Court’s call to declare the city’s first “pollution blockade,” which would restrict the population to one’s own homes.
-‘We will die’-
In neighboring Pakistan, Lahore, Punjab, near the Indian border, was listed as the most polluted city in the world by the Swiss Air Quality Monitoring Agency on Wednesday.
At night, the air over the city of 11 million people cleared slightly.
But the level of PM2.5, the smallest and most harmful particle polluting the air, is still 118 micrograms per cubic meter, which is almost eight times the daily maximum recommended by the WHO.
“The children are experiencing respiratory diseases…for God’s sake, find a solution,” laborer Muhammad Said told AFP.
In recent years, Lahore residents have built their own purifiers and filed lawsuits against government officials, desperately cleaning the air.
However, the authorities have been slow to act, blaming India for the smog or claiming that these figures have been exaggerated.
Read also | The party is over: Diwali leaves Delhi, breathing in dangerous unhealthy air
Lahore has always been rated as one of the most polluted cities in the world.
“We are poor, and we can’t even afford the doctor’s fees,” shopkeeper Ikram Ahmed told AFP.
“We can only beg them to control pollution. I am not a literate person, but I have read that Lahore has the worst air quality, and then Delhi in India. If this continues, we will die.”
Labor Said said that because of the dirty air, he no longer takes his children out for walks.
“There are factories and small industries here-either move them to other places, or compensate them, or provide them with modern technology so that we can get rid of this smog,” he said.
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