Delhi braces for ‘pollution season’ as smog shrouds India’s capital – in pictures
The Guardian · Guardian staff reporter ·
The air quality index in Delhi has already soared above 650, more than 30 times the limit the World Health Organization deems to be safe
Every year in Delhi, the arrival of the winter months also signals the beginning of what residents widely call “pollution season”. A thick toxic smog shrouds the city, home to 30 million people who have no choice but to breathe the poisonous air as they go about their daily lives, often while suffering from wheezy coughs, nausea and itchy eyes. While successive state governments have brought in measures intended to improve air quality, the situation has remained the same for more than a decade. Delhi is widely regarded as the world’s most polluted city. Photograph: Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters
Pollution season usually begins around the same time as Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. Amidst the plummeting air quality, people still gather in the markets for festival shopping and at festivities outside. Diwali is also known to cause a surge in the pollution levels, due to the tens of millions of cars that hit the roads and the use of firecrackers for the celebration. In previous years, firecrackers were banned, but this year the state government has allowed “green” firecrackers”. However environmentalists argue that these are still highly polluting.Photograph: Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters
The causes of Delhi’s apocalyptic pollution are multi-faceted. In recent years, one of the biggest causes has been vehicle emissions, from the almost 10m cars, rickshaws, motorcycles and trucks on the city’s roads. It is also the season where farmers in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab often burn their fields to ready them for the next crop. These fires are illegal but still occur. Factory emissions, dust from construction and rubbish burning also contribute to the toxic air quality levels.Photograph: Yanni Rawat/JNA/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
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