Sharp drop in temperatures contributes to stagnant pollution
After the coldest night of the season, with the minimum temperature dropping to 11 degrees, New Delhi woke up for the third day in a row in a cloud of toxic smog. According to the India Meteorological Department, the drop in temperatures has combined with dense fog to reduce visibility and the institute expects the fog to persist throughout the day. For the pollution emergency, which since Sunday reached the highest record of the last 5 years, all the measures envisaged by the capital authorities for the most acute phases remain in force: all schools closed, entry ban on heavy vehicles, except for those that transport essential products, and of all diesel-powered vehicles, blocking of the activities of private and public construction sites, invitation to smart-working for employees of public and private offices. The government of the capital of India has announced the probable imposition of alternating license plate traffic in the next few days.
The Supreme Court intervened in the emergency by requiring the municipality not to relax the anti-pollution regulations without authorization and explicitly accused the governments of irresponsibility towards the 20 million inhabitants, for having failed since November 2018, when for the first time the Delhi’s air quality reached “seriously harmful” levels for health, to implement long-term measures, but only to implement buffer measures in moments of maximum alert. While those who can afford the expense rush to purchase devices to purify the air inside homes and masks are now unobtainable both in shops and online, hospitals and clinics are besieged by thousands of people suffering from breathing difficulties, cough and sore throat, eye irritation and headache. Controversy rages in the media against the inaction and inability of the authorities to address the now well-known causes of smog; in particular, we highlight the unacceptable health risks for millions of citizens who work in the informal sectors and spend their days outdoors, exposed to poisons.
