Breathless Delhi in Thick Smog Battles Govt Apathy
Delhi BJP protests against pollution Image credit The Raisina Hills
Heavy Smog Turns Delhi Air Hazardous while Fram Fire Rage in Punjab
By Amit Kumar
New Delhi, November 14: The air quality index in New Delhi plunged to the level of 563 on Thursday morning. IQAir called the air in New Delhi “hazardous”. The people in the Delhi Capital Region Territory woke up to another day with extremely low visibility with thick smog.
“The pollution in Delhi and Noida is sickening. I can’t breathe; my throat hurts, and my eyes sting. Delhi-NCR is no longer a liveable place, said Sagrika Kissu, a journalist with The Print, in a post on X.
The spell of air pollution and smog has extended to fourth week now with no respite in sight. The schools in the Delhi NCR region are still functioning. The health professionals are advising the people against spending time outdoors.
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“My sister-in-law with her two small children came from the US two days ago. Both the kids are complaining that they cannot breathe. They have fallen sick,” said Anjani Singh, a resident of New Delhi.
The people are complaining of cough, sore throat, dizziness, chest congestion, and sever eye irritation. The air quality even indoors is worrisome in most of the places in Delhi NCR.
Parts of the national capital see occasional sprinkling and spraying by the municipal vans. But the areas such as Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, and Gurugram are yet to see deployment of anti-smog measures in visible manners.
The lack of wind speed has trapped smog and pollutants in the air of the Delhi NCR, according to environmental experts. They warn that they spell of smog with heavy pollution may extend in the coming weeks.
Experts have warned that only about 20 per cent of crops has so far been harvested in Punjab. Reports suggest that the farmers in Punjab are least concerned about the police filing FIRs and slapping compensation fine on them for setting their farm lands on fire.
A report said that eight hotspot Punjab districts reported over 60 per cent of the cases of farm fires in the state. Over 500 FIRs have been registered in Punjab. The home district of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann Sangrur has recorded over 1200 cases of farm fires per a media report.
The air quality in Sangrur was 210 on Thursday morning, falling in the very unhealthy category. With the Punjab chief minister failing to persuade farmers against setting their farm land on fire, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi is maintaining stoic silence.
The Pakistan-based environmental experts have blamed the Punjab farm fires to the air quality plunging in excess of 800 in Lahore and Multan. A report by The Raisina Hills this week said that the air quality even in Kathmandu has plunged into unhealthy category with the pollution-laden wind travelling across the borders.
A report by The Raisina Hills last year had stated that the people in the Delhi National Capital Region are condemned to life with heavy pollution despite the government claiming to spend ₹9000 crore annually on anti-pollution measures.
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