India’s air pollution taking the shine off Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in Sikh religion
The capital of New Delhi was named by the WHO as the world’s most polluted city, while Amritsar – about 390km to the north – was ranked India’s ninth-most polluted.
The chronic air pollution blanketing much of northern India is now threatening the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion, making the once-gleaming walls of the Golden Temple dingy and dull.
There is little to be done short of replacing the 430-year-old temple’s gold-plated walls – an expensive project already undertaken more than a century ago and then again in 1999.
To cut down on pollution, environmentalists and religious leaders have launched a campaign that includes persuading farmers to stop burning spent crops to clear their fields, removing industry from the area and cutting back on traffic. A community kitchen called a “langar” that serves up to 100,000 people free meals every day at the temple is also switching from burning wood to cooking with gas.
But so far the campaign hasn’t had much impact, with change happening slowly and still no pollution monitoring equipment installed.
We need to do a hell of a lot of work to protect the holy city status of this city
“As far as pollution goes, we are paying attention,” said Jaswant Singh, environmental engineer at the State Pollution Control Board, a government regulatory authority. “We are in the process of procuring equipment so that we can check the pollution area, pollution from every source on a day-to-day basis.”