(New Delhi) India’s capital, New Delhi, was plunged into toxic smog on Friday, with air pollution worsening from fireworks to mark the Hindu festival of Diwali, despite a ban widely flouted.
Posted at 9:07 a.m.
The famous India Gate, a war memorial in New Delhi erected by the colonial authorities, is enveloped by this cloud of pollution, noted an AFP photographer.
Levels of fine particles – carcinogenic microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs – reached 345 micrograms per cubic meter shortly before dawn on Friday, according to Swiss specialist company IQAir. in air quality monitoring, which described the pollution there as “dangerous”.
This level represents more than 20 times the maximum daily pollution threshold recommended by the World Health Organization, of 15 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter.
Every year, New Delhi’s 30 million residents experience pollution peaks during the winter season.
This cloud of pollution is primarily due to the burning of stubble by farmers wishing to destroy harvest residue in the fields to prepare for the following season, but also to factories and road traffic.
The air quality deteriorated further on Friday with the lighting of firecrackers and fireworks to accompany the celebrations of Diwali, a major event in Hindu culture which celebrates the triumph of light over darkness.
New Delhi ordered a “total ban” on the manufacture, storage, sale and use of fireworks in mid-October in order to reduce air pollution.
This measure, which runs until the end of the year, is the most severe in a series of restrictions targeting the use of firecrackers, extremely popular in India.
City police had seized nearly two tons of fireworks before the celebrations, but they remained readily available for sale in neighboring states.
Law enforcement is often reluctant to act against offenders, given the religious dimension of these fireworks and firecrackers for Diwali.
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