Northern India's Winter Smog Season Begins; Top Official: Delhi Will Soon Resemble "A Gas Chamber"
Winter in north India is almost here, and social media is already buzzing with pictures of crop residue burning in the country’s northern states.
Over the last few years, the national capital, New Delhi, and adjoining regions have consistently faced severe levels of air pollution during the winter months from November to February. The authorities seem better prepared this year after coming under fire from courts for failing to control the pollution levels. But it isn’t enough as the air quality seems to be steadily deteriorating and Delhi could soon resemble what a top official called “a gas chamber.” Overall air quality in Delhi was in the “poor” and “very poor” category last week, per the central government’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). These conditions are only expected to deteriorate in the days ahead.
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The experts also say it’s not just Delhi that suffers from air pollution, but the whole of northern India. The air quality recorded earlier this week was poor across several cities in the region, including Agra, Baghpat, Bhiwadi, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Muzaffarpur and Varanasi, according to the national air quality bulletin from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
A May 2018 report from the World Health Organization listed India as having 14 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities in terms of the levels of particulate matter, especially Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5. Similar reports published by the WHO in 2014 and 2016 showed that most of the world’s most polluted cities were in India. In April 2018, the MoEFCC released a draft National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the first such plan to address the issue at the national level. Six months on, however, the NCAP is yet to be finalized. It was heavily criticized by experts who felt it lacked clear pollution reduction targets, city or regional milestones, and powers to ensure compliance.
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https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/is-northern-india-better-prepared-for-air-pollution-this-winter/
