NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – Delhi closed schools till further notice, advised residents to work from home, and prohibited non-essential cargo from entering the country.
Delhi, one of the world’s most polluting cities and home to roughly 20 million people, is blanketed in haze every winter.
The Delhi government ordered schools to close for a week and construction activity to be prohibited for four days on Saturday.
However, the Delhi Commission for Air Quality Management issued an order late Tuesday ordering all educational institutions to stay closed till further notice.
Except for those transporting critical products, lorries are prohibited from entering the capital until November 21, and most building work has been suspended, according to the directive.
At least three times a day, “anti-smog cannons” and water sprinklers were commanded to activate at hotspots.
Six of the eleven thermal power facilities within a 300-kilometer radius have been ordered to shut down until further notice.
The commission also recommended that at least 50% of government employees work from home, and urged private-sector employees to do the same.
The ruling comes days after the Delhi administration fought a Supreme Court order to proclaim a “pollution lockdown,” a first that would confine the city’s residents to their homes.
Smoke from farmers burning agricultural leftovers in neighbouring states is one of the sources of air pollution in the winter.
However, the administration told the Supreme Court that industry was the main source of pollution, followed by traffic pollution and dust.
PM 2.5 readings have reached above 400 in various sections of the city this week, the most hazardous particulate matter that causes chronic lung and heart disease.
Last Monday, the readings reached 500, which is more than 30 times the World Health Organization’s recommended upper limit.
According to a Lancet research published in 2020, about 17,500 people died in Delhi in 2019 as a result of air pollution.
And, according to a research released last year by the Swiss organisation IQAir, India is home to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluting cities.
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