Why India’s capital is being suffocated by toxic smog again: ‘We know it chokes Delhi but we’re helpless’
It turns out the arrival of an air pollution apocalypse was inevitable. After a Diwali festival season that saw relatively modest pollution levels in only the “poor” or “very poor” category, since Tuesday Delhi has been transformed into a gas chamber, with schools closing and workers told to stay home as the deadly smog descended.
This city of more than 30 million people is once again breathing the world’s worst air, with monitors across the metropolis repeatedly showing Air Quality Index (AQI) readings in the worst category of “severe”, meaning prolonged exposure can harm even the healthy and has serious impacts for those with pre-existing conditions, the old and the very young.
Despite the deadly implications of Delhi’s air crisis, neither the cause nor the government’s responses to it are new this year, and any hopes that political upheaval in the past 12 months might bring about a positive change have been dashed.
