India's capital, Delhi, has ordered all elementary schools to suspend in-person classes until further notice as pollution worsens in the vast metropolis. Meanwhile, the Taj Mahal, the nation's monument of love, 220 kilometers away, was also obscured by toxic smog.
Home to more than 30 million people, Delhi and its surrounding metropolitan areas consistently top global rankings for winter air pollution.
Smog is blamed for thousands of premature deaths each year and is an annual source of misery for residents of the capital, with various incremental government initiatives failing to visibly address the problem.
“Due to rising pollution levels, all primary schools in Delhi will move to online classes until further instructions,” Chief Minister Atishi, popularly known as Atishi, announced on social media platform X on Thursday.
Schools are often closed during the worst weeks of the annual smog crisis, which also causes many other disruptions across the city.
The government also called on Thursday to ban all non-essential construction, increase the use of public transport and avoid using coal and wood for heating, although it did not say how long the measures would last. .
Air quality in northern India has worsened over the past week. Levels of PM2.5 pollutants – dangerous carcinogenic particles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs – were recorded on Wednesday, more than 50 times higher than the daily maximum recommended by the World Health Organization.
The main causes of smog are thought to be from farmers in other parts of India burning stubble to clear fields for cultivation, as well as from factories and traffic exhaust.
The situation worsens during winter, which lasts from mid-October to at least January each year, when cooler temperatures and slower winds trap deadly pollutants.
India's Supreme Court ruled in October that clean air is a fundamental human right and ordered both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.
But critics say arguments between rival politicians leading neighboring states and between central and state-level authorities are exacerbating the problem.
Politicians have been accused of not wanting to anger key figures in their constituencies, particularly powerful agricultural groups.
Delhi authorities have launched several initiatives to combat the pollution, but they have had little practical effect.
A new plan announced this month to use three small drones to spray water mist was derided by critics as another “band-aid” solution to the public health crisis.
A study published in the medical journal Lancet found that air pollution was responsible for 1.67 million premature deaths in the world's most populous country in 2019.
The choking smog across Delhi comes as global warming fossil fuel emissions reach an all-time high this year, according to new findings from the Global Carbon Project's international network of scientists. Researchers were in the middle of warning.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters
