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New Delhi enters its annual period of high air pollution
An acrid mist engulfed New Delhi on Wednesday, victim of atmospheric pollution caused in particular by the burning of stubble, described as “dangerous” for the first time this season by a company specializing in air quality.Employees going at their workplace in the capital of India, often classified among the least breathable cities on the planet, coughed Wednesday morning while venturing into this toxic fog and few wore a mask, noted AFP.The famous India Gate, a memorial to the dead of New Delhi erected by the colonial authorities, is also enveloped in this smog. “These days, if we want to go out, we cannot imagine going out without a mask,” explains to AFP Mamta Chauhan, a 27-year-old teacher, describes “a constant bad smell”. This cloud of pollution is primarily due to the burning of stubble by farmers wishing to destroy harvest residue in the fields to prepare for the following season. And air pollution is likely to worsen, particularly with the increase in fireworks during Diwali festivities on November 1, a major event in Hindu culture which celebrates the triumph of light over darkness. Every year, New Delhi’s 30 million residents experience peaks in pollution during the winter season. Levels of fine particulate matter – carcinogenic microparticles known as PM2.5 that enter the bloodstream via the lungs – recorded in the city reached 344 micrograms per cubic meter on Wednesday, according to the Swiss company IQAir, specializing in air quality monitoring, which described the pollution there as “dangerous”. This level represents nearly 23 times the maximum threshold of daily pollution recommended by the World Health Organization, of 15 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter. – More than a million deaths each year – New Delhi ordered in mid-October a “total ban” on the manufacture, storage, sale and use of fireworks in order to reduce air pollution. This measure, taken ahead of the Diwali festivities and which runs until the end of 2024, is the most severe in a series of restrictions targeting the use of firecrackers, extremely popular in India. Previously decided restrictions in the megacity of around 30 million inhabitants have remained largely ignored. “I hope that people will light fewer fireworks, especially for the sake of children and the elderly,” says Raveena Chawra, 24-year-old bank director at AFP. In recent years, the New Delhi government has tried to put a stop to pollution by introducing alternating road traffic, or even a seasonal ban on city traffic for vehicles with diesel engines. But these efforts have not been able to stop this public health problem. According to a study in the scientific journal The Lancet, 1.67 million people died prematurely in 2019 due to air pollution in the second most populous country in the world.pjm/jnd/cpy
