Is it still safe to live in polluted New Delhi?
As a smog that doctors call a killer hangs over India’s capital, pressure builds on the government.
New Delhi is one of the most polluted capital cities in the world. Smog levels of PM2.5 – the pollition particles most harmful to health – rose to levels of 703 on November 7, which was more than the double the 300 mark deemed “hazardous”, forcing authorities to temporarily shut city schools.
Since then PM2.5, which has been linked to lung and heart diseases and is so tiny that it evades the body’s natural defences and enters the bloodstream, has regularly remained above 500. Pollution trackers suggest the fog has reached the worst level so far this year, and is so high that breathing in air has been compared with being worse than smoking 50 cigarettes a day.
Doctors have recommended that people with chest conditions simply leave. Of course, that’s not an option for many and the poor are disproportionately affected by the smog that hangs over the city.
So how can this be solved? And is the government doing enough? On Wednesday, experts join us to discuss.
On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Anumita Roychowdhury @AnumitaRoychowd
Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment
cseindia.org
Shivam Vij @DilliDurAst
Journalist
Sunil Dahiya @Sunil_S_Dahiya
Campaigner, Greenpeace India
Jyoti Pande Lavakare @careforairindia
Co-Founder, Care for Air
careforair.org
Read more:
Schools close as smog chokes India’s ‘gas chamber’ capital – Al Jazeera
The deadly smog over New Delhi is a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with India – Quartz
What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.