In India, Air So Dirty Your Head Hurts
- 7 years ago
In India, Air So Dirty Your Head Hurts
8, 2017
NEW DELHI — A toxic cloud has descended on India’s capital, delaying flights
and trains, causing coughs, headaches and even highway pileups, and prompting Indian officials on Wednesday to take the unprecedented step of closing 4,000 schools for nearly a week.
"I immediately told my officers to pass the order to close all the schools." In some parts of the city, the levels of PM 2.5 — insidiously small particles
that can settle deep in the lungs — had climbed to more than 700 micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered hazardous to breathe, according to data provided by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
On Wednesday evening, Delhi officials decided to halt some construction projects — to reduce airborne dust —
and ban some classes of heavy trucks from entering the city.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr. Sisodia said the air pollution had "engulfed the city." Pollution levels will be reassessed over the weekend, he said,
and a decision made about whether schools should remain closed for longer.
Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi State, said he was driving to a meeting Wednesday
morning when he passed a school bus and saw two children throwing up out of the window.
Air pollution levels this year are on par with ones recorded in the city last November,
when the Indian government closed 1,800 primary schools for three days.
8, 2017
NEW DELHI — A toxic cloud has descended on India’s capital, delaying flights
and trains, causing coughs, headaches and even highway pileups, and prompting Indian officials on Wednesday to take the unprecedented step of closing 4,000 schools for nearly a week.
"I immediately told my officers to pass the order to close all the schools." In some parts of the city, the levels of PM 2.5 — insidiously small particles
that can settle deep in the lungs — had climbed to more than 700 micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered hazardous to breathe, according to data provided by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
On Wednesday evening, Delhi officials decided to halt some construction projects — to reduce airborne dust —
and ban some classes of heavy trucks from entering the city.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr. Sisodia said the air pollution had "engulfed the city." Pollution levels will be reassessed over the weekend, he said,
and a decision made about whether schools should remain closed for longer.
Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi State, said he was driving to a meeting Wednesday
morning when he passed a school bus and saw two children throwing up out of the window.
Air pollution levels this year are on par with ones recorded in the city last November,
when the Indian government closed 1,800 primary schools for three days.