New Delhi, the most polluted capital in the world, is imposing alternating traffic from Monday, November 13 to reduce emissions of fine particles. For several days, northern India has been asphyxiated by toxic fog. The phenomenon is increasing from year to year. In relative indifference.
For pulmonologists, when someone has breathed this acrid and poisonous air of New Delhi all day, it is as if he had smoked nearly 25 to 30 cigarettes. Including obviously children.
So there is no question of going outside: at the beginning of November the schools of the megalopolis of 30 million inhabitants closed their doors. At first it was supposed to last two days. Then five. It will soon be 15. Each winter, the closure lasts a little longer than the previous year.
A very high rate of fine particles
The schools are empty, but the emergency rooms are overwhelmed because thehe respiratory diseases are increasing: asthma, pneumonia, tuberculosis… To breathe normally, more and more adults and children have to permanently stick to their nose what is called a “nebulizer mask” which allows them to spray medications intended to dilate the bronchi. Nothing is new: India has been experiencing this type of episode for several years.
Between Friday November 3 and Sunday November 5, the level of fine particles was up to 40 times higher than the maximum threshold recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). At the end of August, a study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago estimated that air pollution by fine particles (PM2.5) reduced the life expectancy of Indians by more than 5 years. And almost 12 years that of the inhabitants of New Delhi.
Agricultural practices, largely responsible
If these episodes of air pollution always occur at the same time, it is because in the northern countryside, November is the time when farmers burn straw and crop residue to clean their fields – and replant more quickly.
Added to this are road traffic (mainly two-wheelers), industrial emissions, construction site dust, coal combustion… and the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, during which residents burn candles, launch firecrackers and fireworks by the tens of thousands.
Lack of wind, cold temperatures and clouds prevent pollutants from dissipating and keep them at ground level. If you look at photos of New Delhi you will only see a thick, ghostly fog in which it is difficult to distinguish the buildings.
A phenomenon that is observed throughout the Ganges valley, where there are 14 of the most polluted cities in the world, populated by hundreds of millions of inhabitants.
“A real murder of our young people”
The city of New Delhi, which plans to trigger artificial rain, has installed giant air purifiers in the streets. The construction sites are stopped. The city’s taxis have had to convert to natural gas and the massive electrification of transport is underway, and alternating traffic is imposed from Monday, November 13, for at least a week.
But these cosmetic measures absolutely do not make it possible to act on the root causes of pollution. The apathetic government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not spoken out, despite the scale of the crisis.
Tuesday, November 7, the Indian Supreme Court denounced the indifference of public authorities and “the real murder of young people“sacrificed on the altar of economic growth. Even the NGO Amnesty International has taken up the subject by asking the richest countries to come to the aid of the Indian subcontinent and to take action against this pollution which threatens essential rights.