As Delhi’s AQI Equals Breathing 40 Cigarettes, Shashi Tharoor Asks If It Should Remain Capital: ‘Uninhabitable’
Delhi is an inferno right now with an AQI (air quality index) that is 30x more than what is considered safe for humans. Per the Indian pollution control board, an AQI between 0 and 50 is deemed safe and good. The previous 24-hour air quality index read 484, which is classified as ‘severe plus.’ It is five times more toxic than the second most polluted city in the world, Dhaka. Thick smog of pollution has engulfed the national capital, with zero visibility akin to a winter fog. The air smells of charred cigarettes and sulfur even inside the confines of home. Social media is replete with visuals of the disaster that should be declared a national health emergency.
Where is the #environment minister of our country ? Why are we not getting daily briefings from him on what’s being done to get us out of this hell hole ? pic.twitter.com/bQo2NPhwOQ— Bahar Dutt (@bahardutt) November 18, 2024
Pollution is social equaliser pic.twitter.com/PHTsXenyXw— Deepak Jain (@python_deck) November 18, 2024
I can’t breathe. The three words that bind us all in this hellhole gas chamber wondering how much worse it needs to get before anyone cares. It’s astonishing that we accept this.— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 17, 2024
Tonight, Delhi NCR air smells like cigarette smoke and burning coal. Even our air purifiers can’t keep up. This isn’t just pollution – it’s a slow, suffocating death.☠️— Soutik Biswas (@soutikBBC) November 17, 2024
This is not ok. pic.twitter.com/vudPqEJMDb— Faye DSouza (@fayedsouza) November 18, 2024
Alas! The ministers are more busy attending movie premieres, making reels, unveiling projects, or playing the blame game on the bird app. The Guardian reports that elderly citizens like one Mr. Sheikh Imamuddin (70), a roadside bookseller, is paranoid that the hazardous smog will kill him as he ventures out with his asthmatic lungs. He remarks the burning sensation in his eyes, lungs, and abdomen. For Delhiites like Imamuddin, it’s a fight for survival despite knowing the air they breathe is poison. SC has reprimanded the state government over its failure to curb the AQI, while the Delhi government shifts the blame on the neighboring states that are in the control of the central government.
Delhi is mexico filter of hollywood rn. https://t.co/TSZZP48Mqs— Akshay (@Ajain112) November 18, 2024
The building in the smog is Camillias in Gurgaon, where air quality is officially poison. The flats cost 60 to 100 crore. There is something funny about that though I can’t put my finger on what exactly. pic.twitter.com/gPSzUMLllz— Manu Joseph (@manujosephsan) November 18, 2024
Just arrived back in Delhi to find the city embalmed in an all-enveloping burial shroud of pollution. Even at 2pm impossible to see 100m across the runway.
I’ve never seen anything like this in forty years of living here. What a fate for the City of Djinns- still, at its best the… pic.twitter.com/F0l8SRJWTw— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) November 18, 2024
See Also: Google Maps Introduces Real-Time Air Quality Updates; How to Use It
See Also: Irish Vlogger Debunks Claims About ‘Dirty’ Delhi; Netizens Divided Over His Experience
Taking a swipe at the state of affairs, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asked, “Should Delhi remain the capital under these circumstances?” He remarked that the city is uninhabitable from November to January and barely livable the rest of the year.
Delhi is officially the most polluted city in the world, 4x Hazardous levels and nearly five times as bad as the second most polluted city, Dhaka. It is unconscionable that our government has been witnessing this nightmare for years and does nothing about it. I have run an Air… pic.twitter.com/sLZhfeo722— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 18, 2024
See Also: India Has The Most Pollution-Linked Deaths In The World
Meanwhile
🚨This BJP clown is busy in sprinkling water on roads to counter pollution of 1000-1200 AQI.
Elect Clowns, Expect Circus🤡 pic.twitter.com/E2x21ckoJM— Mohit Chauhan (@newt0nlaws) November 18, 2024
AI ke baad ab AQI ke full forms bhi banane padenge. pic.twitter.com/jatfFi2RQ8— Narundar (@NarundarM) November 18, 2024
Online yoga teacher : Take a deep breath…
Delhi NCR person : pic.twitter.com/8Dx1773S6W— UmdarTamker (@UmdarTamker) November 17, 2024
This is Bhupender Yadav, Environment minister of India.
This is his Twitter activity in the last few days when the whole of North India is hardly able to breathe :
Retweets of Modi : 123
Retweets of Amit Shah : 65
Wishing Festivals : 45
Election Campaign posters : 57
Any… pic.twitter.com/XvTjYqqGRJ— Roshan Rai (@RoshanKrRaii) November 18, 2024
Kaash pollution par bhi tax hota. pic.twitter.com/pC8dC8Hi0t— Narundar (@NarundarM) November 18, 2024
See Also: Dyson’s Air Quality Study Shows Delhi Indoor Air Quality Is Poor Than Outdoors; How You Can Stay Safe
See Also: NASA Satellite Images Reveal Widespread Toxic Smog Over India And Pakistan
