New Delhi’s 20-million residents gasp for fresh air

A smoky haze hangs over India’s northern plains and its capital, New Delhi, every year as winter sets in, raising concerns about the health of many millions of people while authorities order fixes that do little to clear the air.

The Air Quality Index in the capital of 20-million people, where few use air purifiers or wear masks to protect themselves, has risen above 350 on a scale of 500, near “very poor” levels in recent days, according to the SAFAR monitoring agency.

A reading above 60 is considered unhealthy.

The index measures levels of airborne PM2.5 particles that can be carried deep into the lungs, causing deadly diseases including cancer and cardiac problems.

The rainy season usually ends in September and come October, the air quality starts deteriorating as cooler temperatures and a drop in the wind trap pollutants in the atmosphere for longer periods.

The pollution intensifies in November, worsened by the burning of crop stubble in Punjab and Haryana states, part of the farm belt that borders New Delhi.

Farmers in the breadbasket states are at the forefront of adopting mechanised farming, and are increasingly using harvesters gather the rice crop. Unlike manual harvesting, the machines leave stubble and paddy straw in the field.

Farmers, with only a short window to prepare their fields for winter crops, burn off the stubble and straw, resulting in dense that accounts for about a quarter of north India’s air pollution, experts say.

New Delhi generates much of its own pollution so matters don’t improve in December, when the stubble burning is largely over.

The capital’s almost 10-million vehicles, more than the other three main cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata combined, emit exhaust fumes while industrial emissions, dust from construction sites and smoke from household fires adds to the murky mix.

The rapidly expanding city is losing the few patches of oxygen-producing forest around it and illegal miners are grinding down nearby hills to feed the construction industry with gravel, thereby removing a natural barrier to dust from the Thar Desert.

When the smog gets too bad, authorities ban construction work and close schools to protect children, but they acknowledge they lack the resources to clamp down effectively on illegal industries and to enforce emission rules.

The Supreme Court has rebuked officials for failing to clear the air and has asked the government of Delhi, its neighbouring states and federal authorities to work together to improve it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party doesn’t govern Delhi — it is run by the opposition Aam Aadmi Party — and there’s little co-operation between them.

It’s nature that brings some improvement with warmer weather ending the atmospheric conditions that trap the smog before the return of the rains around June.

Reuters