Polluted air chokes cities in north India and Pakistan

RESIDENTS in India’s northern states woke up to another day of poor air quality on Tuesday (19), as a layer of dense fog shrouded most of the region and pollution in the capital Delhi remained severe.

India battles air pollution every winter as cold, heavy air traps dust, emissions, and smoke from farm fires started illegally in the farming states of Punjab and Haryana.

The air quality index (AQI) touched a peak of 491 in Delhi on Monday (18), forcing the government to restrict vehicle movement and construction activities, and urge schools to conduct classes online.

“My eyes have been burning for the last few days,” said rickshaw puller Subodh Kumar, 30. “Pollution or no pollution, I have to be on the road, where else will I go?” he said, pausing from eating at a roadside stall.

“We don’t have an option to stay indoors... our livelihood, food, and life – everything is in the open.”

In contrast, air quality improved in the Punjab province of neighbouring Pakistan, prompting authorities in the worst-affected Lahore and Multan cities to reopen schools from Wednesday (20), after more than a week of being closed due to hazardous pollution levels. Students would have to wear face masks and there would be a complete ban on outdoor sports, a government order said on Tuesday.

Lahore’s air quality index (AQI) fell to 158 late on Tuesday, which Swedish group AQair categorises as unhealthy, after crossing 2,000 in some locations last week.

On Tuesday, Delhi’s 24-hour air quality index (AQI) reading was at 488 on a scale of 500, India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said, and at least five stations in the capital reported an AQI of 500.

CPCB defines an AQI reading of 0-50 as “good” and above 401 as “severe”, which it says is a risk to healthy people and “seriously impacts” those with existing diseases.

Swiss group IQAir ranked New Delhi as the world’s most polluted city with air quality at a “hazardous” 489, although that was a significant improvement from Monday’s 1,081 reading.

Experts said the scores vary because of a difference in the scale countries adopt to convert pollutant concentrations into AQI, and so the same quantity of a specific pollutant may be translated as different AQI scores in different countries.

India’s weather department said a shift in the fog layer towards the northern state of Uttar Pradesh had helped improve visibility over Delhi. Visibility dropped to zero metres in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, which lies southeast of Delhi. The Taj Mahal, India’s famed monument of love, has been obscured by toxic smog for nearly a week.

The strict measures to mitigate the impact of high pollution have hurt production at more than 3.4 million micro, small and medium enterprises in the nearby states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, local media reported.

Authorities hoped shutting schools and keeping children at home will reduce traffic.

The government urged children and the elderly, as well as those with lung or heart issues “to stay indoors as much as possible”.

Air filters are too expensive for many, and most do not have homes they can effectively  seal from the misery of dangerous foulsmelling air. “The rich ministers and officials can afford to stay indoors, not ordinary people like us,” said rickshaw taxi driver Rinku Kumar, 45.

“Who can even afford an air purifier when paying monthly bills is a challenge?”

India’s Supreme Court ordered the authorities to take “all possible” action.

“It is the constitutional obligation of the central government and state governments to ensure citizens live in a pollution free atmosphere,” the court said.

Long-time Delhi resident William Dalrymple said he was shocked to “find the city embalmed in an all-enveloping burial shroud of pollution”, he wrote on social media.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in 40 years of living here,” the Scottish historian wrote, saying the “most fascinating of cities” was “currently a tragic, choking death trap”.

Delhi chief minister Atishi, who uses one name, blamed surrounding states for not stopping farmers burning the stubble.

“The people of Delhi are really troubled, they can’t breathe,” the chief minister told reporters Monday.

“I kept receiving phone calls the entire night from people who had to admit their elderly parents to hospitals for breathing issues, or parents looking for steroid inhalers for their children,” she added.

“Why? Because stubble is being burnt all over the country, in every state, everywhere, and the national government isn’t doing anything. Today, the entire north of India  has been pushed into a medical emergency”.