'If we don't control the additional pollutants that come from various human activities then, the pollution level will not come down.'
The AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships is taking place in an indoor stadium from Thursday through to November 24 but teams are complaining about a toxic smog hanging over the city, caused by seasonal burning of crop stubble and emissions from vehicles and industry.
The work to remove 377 metric tonnes of hazardous waste from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has begun. The waste will be transported to an incineration site in Pithampur near Indore, around 250 km from Bhopal. The move comes after the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered the authorities to clear the site, 40 years after the deadly gas leak that killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands with health problems.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years to sweep away the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority on the back of a hyper localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'AAP-da'(disaster) blitzkrieg.
The Punjab government dismissed claims that it owned the car intercepted in Delhi. The vehicle's number plate was forged and fake as it can be tracked to a different car not owned by the Punjab government, it said. The AAP, too, released a statement, saying the car seizure was a "planted stunt, ?poorly executed and utterly bogus".
Gaps in enforcement, limited monitoring, and easy access to firecrackers from the NCR region where restrictions were slack were largely responsible for the widespread flouting of the cracker ban in Delhi on Diwali, experts have opined.
The environment ministry is likely to soon issue regulations that will mandate automakers to recycle a specified percentage of steel from old vehicles, starting from the next financial year, according to people familiar with the matter. "We recently held a meeting with members of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). "The final regulations are likely to be issued in the next 10 days," a government source informed.
Authorities have suspended civil construction works in Delhi and Haryana as part of emergency measures to improve air quality.
Delhi is witnessing an "emergency situation" due to alarming pollution level, the Centre on Saturday said and called a meeting of environment ministers of all neighbouring states on Monday to curb stubble burning by farmers which has made Delhi a "gas chamber".
The clarification by the top court, which had in 2018 banned the bursting of conventional firecrackers to curb air and sound pollution, will have ramifications across the nation.
The overall AQI deteriorated further and touched the 268 mark, which falls in the poor category.
La Nina, construction worsen air quality; spike in respiratory ailments.
'When you are travelling in Mumbai when the air quality is bad, you feel suffocated.' 'You may feel uncomfortable breathing Delhi air, but the level of discomfort is higher in Mumbai.'
Days after saying that there is no need for subsidies to achieve greater penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday clarified that the view is his own, but any official call on EV subsidies is not one that he can take.
Noting the pendency of issues related to firecrackers before the Supreme Court, the Delhi high court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition challenging Delhi Pollution Control Committee's complete ban on sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers.
Uncertainty looms over Lanka-Bangla World Cup clash due to severe air pollution
Dense fog enveloped Delhi for a second consecutive morning, leading to disruptions in air and rail traffic. Visibility dropped to zero in several areas, causing delays for 81 trains and diversions for 15 flights. The Met office attributed the fog to calm surface winds, and predicted continued dense to very dense fog throughout the day. Meanwhile, the national capital's air quality remained in the 'very poor' category, with an AQI reading of 380 at 9 am.
Researchers found that India, along with China and Japan, were the three leading countries in Asia in terms of number of new cases and deaths, where they say cancer has become a more significant public health threat with 94 lakh new cases and 56 lakh deaths in 2019.
The air quality in Delhi remained poor Sunday with drop in wind speed even as authorities predicted further fall in air quality index of the national capital in the coming days.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that very dense fog began forming around 5.30 am, resulting in a thick haze over different parts of the national capital.
The news may come as a relief to the Delhi government, whose odd-even traffic rule is set to be rolled out from January 1.
Forty years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, 377 tons of hazardous waste has been shifted from the defunct Union Carbide factory for its disposal, an official said.
The PM2.5 level (presence in the air of particles with a diametre of less than 2.5 micrometres) touched a new high at 158 as authorities predicted further deterioration of air quality in the coming days.
Delhi's toxic air has left some of the women boxers, gathered in the city for the AIBA World Championship, gasping for breath but Indian people's renowned hospitality is providing some comfort.
The city's AQI on Friday was the worst since the previous high recorded on November 12, 2021.
A Delhiite himself, Shikhar Dhawan was on Tuesday candid in his admission that the city's air quality is poor, but insisted that it cannot come in the way of going about their job of playing as professional cricketers.
Toxic grey smog has sickened tens of thousands of people, mainly children and elderly people, since last month when the air quality started worsening in Lahore, the city bordering India.
"We have to make government responsible for this," the bench said and asked, "Why can't govt machinery stop stubble burning?"
The smog reduced the visibility to merely 300 meters in the morning affecting traffic, an official of the India Meteorological Department said.
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A directive this year to ban all vehicles older than 15 years has been delayed and previous city governments have often ignored court orders to address pollution woes.
Health expert termed the problems caused due to the rise in pollution as a "medical emergency".
The city's overall air quality index stood at 306 on Friday.
'They did the right thing if they were protesting against it. Medically there was no reason to continue the match; it must have been taken off'
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday said the ban on construction and demolition activities in Delhi will continue till further orders in view of the high air pollution levels.
Delhi's air quality was again in the severe category with the 24-hour average AQI recorded at 403 after remaining in the 'very poor' category till Tuesday morning, when the AQI was recorded at 396.
At 9 am on Tuesday, the overall AQI of Delhi docked at 381, which falls in the 'very poor' category.
The official data maintained by the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research put the condition at severely polluted. The Particulate Matter 2.5 level was recorded at 146 while the PM 10 was at 233 in New Delhi.
According to Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) Sameer app, the city's air quality index (AQI) stood at 449 in the severe category at 8 am on Saturday. It was 462 on Friday.
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