Capital Punishment: Delhi records its seventh 'severe' air day in November
A toxic smog engulfs Delhi, its air quality index at a 'severe' level, with its residents contributing to it by blasting firecrackers with impunity during Diwali celebrations, breaching safe standards many times over, even as authorities mull over a solution with no respite in sight
Image: Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
With the worsening air quality index, some residents started wearing masks to protect themselves from pollution and smog in the morning in Delhi NCR on November 15, 2023. Delhi’s AQI stood at 401 yesterday, causing health experts to warn that no less than an N95 or N99 mask would help prevent some of the lung-killing particles from being inhaled.
Image: Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP
Revellers light firecrackers during Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights, in New Delhi on November 12, 2023. Despite the prohibition on the manufacture, sale, and use of fireworks, the entire Delhi-NCR seemed to have stepped out to burst firecrackers, causing PM2.5 levels to soar after midnight and turning the sky hazy by Monday.
Image: Sanjeev Verma/HT via Getty Images
Heavy traffic crawls on a congested junction at Anand Vihar in Delhi amidst hazy weather conditions and smog on November 15, 2023. According to an IIT Kanpur study, vehicles continue to be the top contributors to Delhi’s toxic PM2.5 levels, with a share of vehicle pollution topping 45 percent on Tuesday.
Image: Anushree Fadnavis / Reuters
A farmer burns crop stubble in a village in Karnal district, Haryana, on November 4, 2023. Biomass burning is the third highest contributor, adding 27% to the Capital’s foul air. Satellites detected many farm fires in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and the authorities hope a shift in wind direction will reduce the effects on Delhi-NCR by this weekend.
Image: Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
An anti-smog gun deployed on a truck sprays water to settle suspended dust particles during a special drive against pollution at the Delhi Secretariat on November 14, 2023, in New Delhi, India. Air quality experts have notified of its limited effects, stating that cutting down emissions at source is the only solution in the long run.
