Delhi closes schools as government considers ‘pollution lockdown’ for harmful smog

New Delhi authorities announced a week-long school closure on Saturday and said they would consider a “pollution lockdown” to protect citizens from toxic smog.

“Schools will be closed so that children do not have to breathe polluted air,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters.

Delhi is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world, with a dangerous mix of factory and vehicle emissions, and smoke from agricultural fires, settling into the skies of its 20 million people each winter.

On Saturday, the Supreme Court suggested imposing a blockade on Delhi to combat the air quality crisis.

“How will we live otherwise?” Said Chief Justice NV Ramana.

Kejriwal said his government would consider the court’s suggestion after consulting with interested parties.

“The pollution lockdown has never happened before. It will be an extreme step, ”he said.

Kejriwal said construction activity would halt for four days to remove dust from the vast, open sites.

Government offices were asked to operate from home and private companies were advised to stick to work-from-home options as much as possible.

On Friday, the Central Pollution Control Board recommended that authorities prepare “for the implementation of measures in the ’emergency’ category.”

He added that the poor air quality would likely last until at least November 18 due to “low winds with calm conditions overnight.”

Commuters make their way along a busy highway in New Delhi on November 12, 2021. © Prakash Singh, AFP

On Saturday, the levels of PM 2.5 particles, the smallest and most harmful, that can enter the bloodstream, surpassed 300 on the air quality index.

That’s 20 times the maximum daily limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

Hospitals reported a sharp increase in patients complaining of breathing difficulties, the Times of India reported.

“We see 12 to 14 patients daily in the emergency room, mostly at night when symptoms cause sleep disturbances and panic,” Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee of Apollo Hospitals told the newspaper.

Stubble smog

The Delhi government has been committed for years to cleaning the air in the city.

The burning of agricultural waste in Delhi’s neighboring states, a major contributor to the city’s pollution levels each winter, has continued despite a Supreme Court ban.

Tens of thousands of farmers around the capital burn their stubble – or crop residues – at the beginning of each winter, clearing fields of freshly harvested paddy fields to make way for wheat.

The number of agricultural fires this season has been the highest in the past four years, according to government data.

Earlier this year, the Delhi government inaugurated its first “smog tower” containing 40 giant fans that pump 1,000 cubic meters of air per second through filters.

The $ 2 million facility cuts the amount of harmful particles in the air in half, but only within a radius of one square kilometer (0.4 square miles), according to engineers.

A 2020 report by the Swiss organization IQAir found that 22 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world were in India, and Delhi was ranked as the most polluted capital globally.

The same year, The Lancet said that 1.67 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in India in 2019, including nearly 17,500 in the capital.

In recent days, the river that flows through Delhi, the Yamuna, has also been drowned with a sickly white foam.

The city government has blamed “sewage and heavy industrial waste” dumped into the river from upstream for the plague.

(AFP)