India’s capital has shut down its schools until further notice due to dangerous levels of air pollution, while residents of Lahore in neighboring Pakistan have pleaded with officials to take action over the acrid smog engulfing the region.
Air quality has worsened across northern India and adjacent parts of Pakistan over the past few years, as industrial pollutants, smoke from seasonal crop burn-off and colder winter temperatures coalesce into toxic smog.
Lahore, a city of more than 11 million people in Punjab Province near the border with India, was yesterday recorded as the most polluted city in the world by a Swiss air quality monitor.
Photo: EPA-EFE
New Delhi is consistently ranked as the world’s worst capital for air quality, with levels of pollutants last week reaching more than 30 times the maximum limit recommended by the WHO.
The Indian megacity of 20 million people has canceled classes and urged people to work from home, while banning non-essential trucks from entering the city in an effort to clear the smog.
In a directive passed late on Tuesday, the city’s Commission for Air Quality Management said all education institutions should be closed until further notice.
“Anti-smog guns” — which spray mist into the air — and water sprinklers were ordered to operate at pollution hotspots at least three times per day, and six of the 11 coal-fired power plants across New Delhi were told to pause operations.
The commission also said that at least half of government workers were being sent home and private companies should follow suit.
The order came days after the New Delhi government pushed back against a call by the Indian Supreme Court to declare the city’s first “pollution lockdown,” which would restrict the population to their homes.
Even as New Delhi has been blanketed by toxic smog, India led the charge to weaken anti-coal pledges at the UN COP26 climate summit, with critics saying that it prioritizes economic growth over the planet’s future.
Lahore yesterday had an air quality ranking of 348, air quality monitor IQAir said, well over the hazardous level of 300 set by the WHO.
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