Fireworks associated with the Hindu festival add to pollution in Indian capital as particulates in the air soar above safe levels

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Delhi has been blanketed in a toxic fog the morning after the Hindu festival of Diwali, when hundreds of thousands of people in the Indian capital celebrate by setting off crackers and fireworks.

Air quality in the Indian capital, one of the world’s most polluted cities, is usually very poor due to road dust, open fires, vehicle exhaust fumes, industrial emissions and the burning of crop residues in neighbouring states.

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But the density of some harmful particles and droplets in the air spikes for days after Diwali and can reach up to 42 times the safe limit.

Ravi Choudhary (@choudharyview) #Delhi air quality plunges on #Diwali , #pollutants 42 times higher than limit https://t.co/QxY7Vo7ITG reports @htTweets @htdelhi pic.twitter.com/kj5lkJNiP7

An air quality station at the US embassy in Chanakyapuri, one of the city’s greener districts, recorded a PM2.5 level of 999 on Monday morning. India’s pollution control board sets the safe limit for PM2.5 – which measures particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres – at 60.

By contrast, the highest PM2.5 level recorded in London on Monday morning was 139, at a measuring station in Farringdon. Averages tend to be far lower across the year, at about 16, according to a 2010 study.

PM2.5 particles and droplets are considered to be the most harmful kind of air pollution because they are fine enough to evade the body’s natural filters, penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

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Short-term exposure can trigger coughing and eye and throat irritation, while longer term exposure is strongly associated with reduced lung function, heart disease and lung cancer.



A 2015 study found about half of Delhi’s 4.4 million schoolchildren had compromised lung capacity and would never completely recover.



India also has the world’s highest rate of death from respiratory disease, according to the World Health Organisation, with 159 deaths per 100,000 people in 2012, about five times that of the UK and twice that of China.



“The levels we’re seeing are really alarming. They are clearly in the severe category,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director of the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based thinktank.

“Delhi’s air remains so polluted throughout the year that it doesn’t really have room for additional pollution during Diwali.”

She said the smog released by the fireworks was worsened by the seasonally cooler temperature and slowing winds, which meant “the air doesn’t blow away, and all the pollution that happens inside the city gets trapped at the ground level, very close to our noses”.

Surendran B (@surendranb) Zero visibility on DND flyway. Drive safely. #delhi #noida #delhitraffic pic.twitter.com/aGYmkBbZoI

The city authorities have piloted a scheme allowing vehicles to only drive on alternate days, depending on whether their last registration number was odd or even.

The odd-even scheme has been trialled twice and its impact on air quality is being investigated.

Unlike in China, where a PM2.5 reading greater than 300 for more than three days triggers a “red alert” that closes schools, there are no official government warnings over high levels of air pollution.

The capital region’s high court last year criticised the inaction of successive Delhi and national governments in dealing with the problem and compared the megacity of more than 25 million people to “a gas chamber”.

Roychowdhury said awareness of the problem was slowly growing among Delhi’s residents. “Newspapers are writing about it every day, it’s part of the dinner table conversation,” she said.

“Where we still have a lot more to do is to sensitise people about the solutions to the problem. We need to understand that controlling it needs hard decisions, and to build public support for these hard decisions.”