Commuters make their way along a street amid smoggy conditions in New Delhi on Nov 5, 2021. (PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)
While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attending the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the air quality in India's national capital New Delhi worsened for days after a grand festival.
Initially categorized as "poor" on Nov 1, the air quality in New Delhi became ''hazardous'' by the weekend following the festival of Diwali, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
Despite a government ban, people across the city lit firecrackers on the evening of Nov 4 to celebrate Diwali, worsening pollution levels.
Despite a ban, people across the city lit firecrackers on the evening of Nov 4 to celebrate Diwali, worsening pollution levels
The concentration of PM2.5 — dangerous tiny pollutants in the air — stood at 999 per cubic metre, the maximum reading, in some parts of Delhi on Nov 5, according to federal ministry of earth sciences' System of Air Quality & Weather Forecasting & Research (SAFAR).
Several places in the national capital region, including Faridabad (424), Ghaziabad (442), Gurgaon (423) and Noida (431), recorded figures close to or higher than 500, which is categorized as "severe ".
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New Delhi’s environment minister Gopal Rai on Nov 5 said that Delhi's air quality had deteriorated due to a surge in farm fires and some people lighting up firecrackers despite a government ban.
Delhi government banned the sale of firecrackers this year to curb pollution levels but that apparently did not deter city residents, with the police maiking several arrests.
Low visibility due to foggy conditions caused six vehicles to pile up and injured a number of people, including children, on a highway in Greater Noida early on Nov 5.
Plenty of images and videos of the haze in and around the national capital went viral through social media.
Rampant incidents of stubble burning around New Delhi during this season also aggravated the situation.
According to SAFAR, stubble burning accounted for 36 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 on Nov 5, the highest so far this season.
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“The overall air quality of Delhi plunged to the upper end of the severe category with additional firework emissions. The share of stubble emissions has peaked today at 36 per cent,” said Gufran Beig, the founder project director of SAFAR. The contribution of crop residue burning was set to increase to 40 per cent for next few days, the SAFAR said.
Carbon dioxide emitted by 12 million vehicles plying in Delhi, industrial plants and billions of dust particles from buildings being constructed are other major source of pollution in Delhi, according to various government reports.
A thick layer of smog blanketed New Delhi, a city of nearly 20 million people, on Nov 5, and people from several parts of the city and its suburbs complained of itchy throats and watery eyes.
“People are walking into hospitals and clinics, saying they’re breathless and (feel) heavy in the chest due to pollution for the past few days,”said Dr Rashmi Sama, a pulmonologist of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi.
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Sama calls it a triple whammy for people already battling a deadly cocktail of COVID-19, battered lungs and seasonal flu.
“We should call this situation a public health emergency. If in a country like India, where a million and a half people die because of bad air, then it’s a crisis bigger than COVID-19,” environmentalist Subhas Dutta said.
India is home to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. The world’s top 10 polluted cities include six from India.
Air pollution caused an estimated 54,000 premature deaths in the Indian capital New Delhi last year, a higher toll than in any other big global metropolis, according to a study prepared by Greenpeace Southeast Asia Analysis.
The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.