‘Everything is polluted right now’: anger rises as toxic haze chokes India’s capital New Delhi
This week the air was the worst it has been all year, with microscopic particles spiking to 75 times the level considered safe by the World Health Organisation
As thick smog crept over India’s capital this week and smudged landmarks from view, Nikunj Pandey could feel his eyes and throat burning.
Pandey stopped doing his regular workouts and said he felt tightness in his lungs. He started wearing three layers of pollution masks over his mouth. And he became angry that he could not safely breathe the air.
“This is a basic right,” he said. “A basic right of humanity.”
Pandey is among many people in New Delhi who have become more aware of the toxic air in recent years and are increasingly frustrated at the lack of action by authorities.
This week the air was the worst it has been all year in the capital, with microscopic particles that can affect breathing and health spiking to 75 times the level considered safe by the World Health Organisation.
Experts have compared breathing the air to smoking a couple of packs of cigarettes a day. The Lancet medical journal recently estimated some 2.5 million Indians die each year from pollution.