{"id":366631,"date":"2021-11-13T19:06:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T16:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/delhi-shuts-schools-as-government-considers-pollution-lockdown\/"},"modified":"2021-11-13T19:06:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T16:06:11","slug":"delhi-shuts-schools-as-government-considers-pollution-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/delhi-shuts-schools-as-government-considers-pollution-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"#Delhi shuts schools as government considers ‘pollution lockdown’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Delhi shuts schools as government considers ‘pollution lockdown’<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n \"pollution\"
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New Delhi authorities announced Saturday a one-week closure of schools and said they would consider a “pollution lockdown” to protect citizens from toxic smog.<\/p>\n

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“Schools will be shut so that children don’t have to breathe polluted air,” Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters.<\/p>\n

Delhi is ranked one of the world’s most polluted cities, with a hazardous melange of factory and vehicle emissions, and smoke from agricultural fires, settling in the skies over its 20 million people each winter.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the Supreme Court suggested imposing a lockdown on Delhi to combat the air quality crisis. <\/p>\n

“How will we live otherwise?” Chief Justice N.V. Ramana said.<\/p>\n

Kejriwal said his government would consider the court’s suggestion after consulting with stakeholders.<\/p>\n

“Pollution lockdown has never happ<\/a>ened before. It will be an extreme step,” he said. <\/p>\n

Kejriwal said that construction activity would be halted for four days to cut down dust from vast, open sites.<\/p>\n

Government offices were asked to operate from home and private businesses advised to stick to work-from-home options as much as possible.<\/p>\n

The Central Pollution Control Board on Friday advised authorities to prepare “for implementation of measures under ’emergency’ category”.<\/p>\n

It added the poor air quality would likely run until at least November 18 due to “low winds with calm conditions during the night”. <\/p>\n

On Saturday, levels of PM 2.5 particles\u2014the smallest and most harmful, which can enter the bloodstream\u2014topped 300 on the air quality index. <\/p>\n

That is 20 times the maximum daily limit recommended by the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

Hospitals were reporting a sharp rise in patients complaining of breathing difficulties, the Times of India reported.<\/p>\n

“We are getting 12-14 patients daily in the emergency, mostly at night, when the symptoms cause disturbed sleep and panic,” Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee from Apollo Hospitals told the paper.<\/p>\n

Stubble smog<\/b><\/p>\n

Delhi’s government has been vowing for years to clean up the city’s air.<\/p>\n

The burning of agricultural waste in Delhi’s neighbouring states\u2014a major contributor to the city’s pollution levels every winter\u2014has continued despite a Supreme Court ban. <\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of farmers around the capital burn their stubble\u2014or crop residue\u2014at the start of every winter, clearing fields from recently harvested paddies to make way for wheat.<\/p>\n

The number of farm fires this season has been the highest in the past four years, according to government data. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Delhi government opened its first “smog tower” containing 40 giant fans that pump 1,000 cubic metres of air per second through filters.<\/p>\n

The $2 million installation halves the amount of harmful particulates in the air but only within a radius of one square kilometre (0.4 square miles), according to engineers.<\/p>\n

A 2020 report by Swiss organisation IQAir found that 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities were in India, with Delhi ranked the most polluted capital globally.<\/p>\n

The same year, The Lancet said 1.67 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in India in 2019, including almost 17,500 in the capital.<\/p>\n

In recent days the river flowing through Delhi, the Yamuna, was also choked with sickly white foam.<\/p>\n

The city government has blamed the blight on “heavy sewage and industrial waste” discharged into the river from further upstream.<\/p>\n\n

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Delhi wakes to post-Diwali smog<\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Delhi shuts schools as government considers ‘pollution lockdown’ (2021, November 13)
\n retrieved 13 November 2021
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2021-11-delhi-schools-pollution-lockdown.html<\/p>\n

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