NEW DELHI: Residents of India’s capital New Delhi choked in a blanketing toxic smog on Wednesday as worsening air pollution surged past 50 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily maximum.

Many in the city cannot afford air filters, nor do they have homes they can effectively seal from the misery of foul smelling air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.

Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds trap deadly pollutants each winter, stretching from mid-October until at least January. At dawn on Wednesday, “hazardous” pollutant levels in parts of the sprawling urban area of more than 30 million people topped 806 micrograms per cubic metre, according to monitoring firm IQAir.

That is more than 53 times the World Health Organisation recommended daily maximum of fine particulate matter — dangerous cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs. By midday, when air usually is at its best, it eased to about 25-35 times above danger levels, depending on different districts.

Bikramjeet Singh, 25, who works as an environmental health safety manager walking on the streets, said breathing in Delhi was like “smoking cigarettes” and he worried for those with asthma. “Older people have difficulties breathing,” he said.

The city is blanketed in acrid smog each year, primarily blamed on stubble burning by farmers in neighbouring regions to clear their fields for ploughing, as well as factories and traffic fumes.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024