As the air quality worsened, Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday said that Delhi was “essentially uninhabitable” between November and January due to poor AQI and questioned whether it should “even remain the nation’s capital”.
The city’s worsening toxic smog has surged past 60 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum and has enveloped the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) for the past few days with the air quality index (AQI) plummeting to the “severe-plus” category. This has forced the authorities to switch schools to online classes and invoke strict pollution control measures.
In a post on X, Shashi Tharoor, citing Air Quality Index (AQI) data of Swiss air quality technology company IQAir, said, “Delhi is officially the most polluted city in the world”.
“Delhi is officially the most polluted city in the world, 4x Hazardous levels and nearly five times as bad as the second most polluted city, Dhaka. It is unconscionable that our government has been witnessing this nightmare for years and does nothing about it,” Tharoor said.
He added, “I have run an Air Quality Round Table for experts and stakeholders, including MPs, since 2015 but gave up last year because nothing seemed to change and no one seemed to care. This city is essentially uninhabitable from November to January inclusive and barely livable the rest of the year. Should it even remain the nation’s capital?”
Delhi consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter as cold air traps dust, emissions and smoke from illegal stubble burning by farmers in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana to clear their fields for ploughing.
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Delhi AQI nears 500-mark
A thick blanket of smog continued to shroud Delhi and its adjoining areas on Tuesday morning as the AQI nearly touched the 500-mark.
According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) data, the national capital’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 494 at 6 am, the worst so far this season, which officials said was due to “unfavourable” meteorological conditions.
The Centre’s air quality panel on Monday invoked stricter pollution control measures for the Delhi-NCR under Stage 4 of the anti-pollution plan Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). This is in addition to the preventive actions announced under Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 of GRAP already in force.
The air quality panel – Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) – also urged the public, particularly children, senior citizens and those with respiratory, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or other chronic diseases, to stay indoors.