After celebrating the Diwali festival, New Delhi woke up with air pollution levels more than 16 times above the maximum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)
New Delhi, the capital of dawned with a dense toxic fog this Monday (20), with levels of of air more than 16 times above the maximum recommended by . The city’s metropolitan area, with more than 30 million inhabitants, frequently appears on the list of the most polluted capitals in the world, particularly during winter. Colder air traps pollutants near the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from fires, factories and heavy traffic.
But pollution has also increased due to several days of fireworks to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali, which culminates on Monday night. The Supreme Court this month relaxed a ban on fireworks to allow less polluting “green fireworks” during the Diwali festival. Levels of PM2.5 – carcinogenic microparticles capable of entering the bloodstream – reached 248 micrograms per cubic meter in some areas of the city, according to monitoring organization IQAir.
The Government Air Quality Management Commission said conditions were expected to worsen in the coming days. City authorities have announced that they intend to test “cloud seeding,” with planes injecting salt or chemicals into clouds to induce and clean the air. A study published by The Lancet Planetary Health magazine indicated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were caused by air pollution.
*With information from AFP
