{"id":523,"date":"2016-11-21T14:59:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T14:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.propectin.com\/blog\/?p=523"},"modified":"2016-11-21T14:59:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T14:59:48","slug":"indian-government-declares-delhi-air-pollution-an-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.propectin.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/21\/indian-government-declares-delhi-air-pollution-an-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian government declares Delhi air pollution an emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/nov\/06\/delhi-air-pollution-closes-schools-for-three-days<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Indian government declares Delhi air pollution an emergency<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Capital\u2019s schools closed for three days and building work halted as harmful pollutants reach level more than 16 times safe limit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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\u00a0Young Indian runners take part in the New Delhi 10k Challenge amid heavy smog on Sunday. Photograph: Dominique Faget\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Michael Safi<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Indian government has declared severe levels of toxic air pollution in\u00a0Delhi<\/a>\u00a0an \u201cemergency situation\u201d as administrators announce a plan to temporarily shut construction sites and a coal-fired power station to bring the situation under control.<\/p>\n

Schools in the capital will be closed for three days and traffic may be rationed, following\u00a0six days of heavy smog<\/a>\u00a0and concentrations of harmful particles so high they cannot be measured by most air quality instruments.<\/p>\n

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The level of PM2.5 pollutants, which are the most harmful because they can reach deep into the lungs and breach the\u00a0blood-brain barrier<\/a>, have reached at least 999 in parts of the city this week, more than 16 times the safe limit of 60.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Delhi\u2019s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, announced emergency measures aimed at protecting residents, including a five-day ban on construction and demolition, thought to be a major contributor to pollution levels.<\/p>\n

Bulldozers are to be used to put out fires at the Bhalswa landfill, which constantly smoulders.<\/p>\n

Kejriwal said: \u201cPeople should stay home as much as they can [and] work from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

A coal-fired power station in Badarpur, south-east Delhi, will stop operating for 10 days, along with diesel generators in the city.<\/p>\n

Kejriwal has called on neighbouring states to enforce laws against burning agricultural waste.<\/p>\n

Around this time each year, hundreds of thousands of farmers in Haryana and Punjab set their fields on fire to dispose of crop remnants, sending smoke billowing across India\u2019s northern plains.<\/p>\n

The Delhi government is preparing to reintroduce a temporary scheme to only allow cars to\u00a0drive on odd or even days<\/a>\u00a0depending on the last digit of their registration numbers.<\/p>\n

Airborne pollution in Delhi rarely stays within safe levels, even during summer, when winds are stronger and dust and droplets disperse more easily in the hot air.<\/p>\n

It is traditionally worst in the winter months, beginning with Diwali, when hundreds of thousands of fireworks are let off across the city. They leave a haze that usually\u00a0lasts for two or three days<\/a>, but has persisted for almost a week this year.<\/p>\n

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