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       NEW DELHI: Acrid clouds engulfed India’s capital on Wednesday as air pollution fuelled by fireworks and farm stubble burning was ranked “hazardous” by monitors for the first time this winter.

       New Delhi is home to more than 30 million people and is regularly ranked as one of the most polluted urban areas on the planet. Commuters walking to work cough through poisonous smog that kills thousands each year, according to health experts, although few in the sprawling city wear masks.

       The city’s famous India Gate monument was wreathed in foul-smelling mist on Wednesday. “These days if you want to go out, you can’t think of leaving without a mask,” teacher Mamta Chauhan, 27, said.

       “There is a constant bad smell and the pollution level is very high.” New Delhi is blanketed in acrid smog each year, primarily blamed on stubble burning by farmers in neighbouring regions to clear their fields for ploughing.

       Levels of fine particulate matter — cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs — surged to nearly 23 times the World Health Organisation recommended daily maximum.

       The pollutants topped 344 micrograms per cubic metre, according to monitoring firm IQAir on Wednesday, which listed air in the sprawling megacity as “hazardous”, ranking it as the world’s worst.

       Air pollution is expected to worsen during the Hindu festival of lights, which falls on Nov 1 this year when smoky fireworks spewing hazardous toxins are part of celebrations.

       Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2024