Lethal Pollution Killing People in Delhi

Lethal Pollution Killing People in Delhi

Update: November 14, 2024

While the Air Quality Index (AQI) in India’s capital New Delhi has reached the “severe” level, the local administration has imposed stricter measures to control pollution in the city-state.

In the new rules applicable from Friday (November 15), all non-essential construction and building demolition work will be prohibited in Delhi to check dust pollution. Moreover, certain types of vehicles will not be allowed to run on the roads in Delhi and parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) such as Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Gautam Budh Nagar.

The new pollution-control measures come under GRAP-3 (Graded Response Action Plan-3) to reduce pollution levels in Delhi.

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Facts About Pollution in Delhi

While India’s capital New Delhi continues to be the most polluted national capital on planet earth, a staggering number of deaths are taking place due to pollution in the city.

A global environment research organization Greenpeace Southeast Asia reveals that pollution killed 54,000 people in just one year (2020) in Delhi while the city is at the top of a list of world’s five most polluted cities. In other words, pollution is killing nearly 150 people everyday in Delhi while hundreds of Delhi residents are falling sick. 

The Greenpeace research reveals that these are avoidable deaths – one death per 500 people in Delhi’s population of 30 million – which are taking place due to PM2.5 air pollution and the estimated economic cost to Delhi in 2020 was US$ 8.1 billion.

Since the Indian Government, Delhi Government, and pollution-control agencies such as Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), and National Green Tribunal (NGT) are full of corrupt and ignorant officials, they are not taking proper steps to save people’s lives from increasing pollution in Delhi. Instead of taking decisive actions, the negligent officials are still dependent on rain and wind to take pollution away from Delhi.

The extreme pollution in Delhi is usually compared to the poisonous gas chambers used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust for the genocide of millions of European Jews.

Earlier, the Supreme Court of India observed that the pollution in Delhi has made the city worse than hell. A Supreme Court judge Arun Mishra (who is now the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India) said that it is better to get explosives and kill everyone, instead of allowing people to die slowly in Delhi’s pollution.

Although the Supreme Court – which is in fact a toothless judicial institution – keeps making such random observations frequently, it fails to get its pollution-control suggestions implemented by the government which is full of lawless officials.

The court also admonished the Delhi Government, saying that it has no right to rule. Ironically, the judges refuse to hold themselves accountable for the deteriorating air quality in Delhi. Instead of taking moral responsibility for pollution and leaving their own positions, the judges are casually questioning Delhi Government’s right to rule. 

As the Supreme Court of India works in a free-wheeling manner, it does not use the law to punish the politicians and officials who fail to control pollution. Instead of sending such delinquent officials to jail, the Supreme Court judges only make loose remarks in the courts while the pollution continues to wreak havoc in Delhi.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi remains at hazardous or unhealthy levels throughout the year. But the government and pollution-control agencies do not take any steps to combat pollution. Although the government does not release data related to pollution-related diseases and deaths in Delhi, it is estimated that besides killing nearly 5,000 people every month, pollution is causing multiple diseases among thousands of people in the city.

According to WHO, in adults, ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the most common causes of premature death attributable to outdoor air pollution, and evidence is also emerging of other effects such as diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions. In children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections, and aggravated asthma.

A Swiss-based international air quality technology company IQAir offers the IQAir platform to measure ground-level particulate matter (PM2.5) in real time. This data is then combined with a city’s population, health data, and scientific risk models to determine mortality and cost estimates.

PM2.5 is particulate matter pollution measuring 2.5 microns or less. These microscopic particles are considered a major threat to human health. PM2.5 can be inhaled and absorbed into the bloodstream, impacting both the respiratory and cardiovascular system.

According to IQAir, although the early 2020 lockdowns for Covid-19 slowed global air pollution by reducing travel and associated pollutants, the impact was brief. The Cost of Air Pollution estimator demonstrates that air pollution still causes many deaths in major cities around the world, and Delhi is at the top of the list.

An interactive tool on the Breathe Life 2030 website shows a particulate matter (PM 2.5) level of 143 micrograms per cubic metre (annual mean) in Delhi. This is over 14 times more than the WHO (World Health Organization) safe level of 10 µg/m3. Simply put, the people of Delhi are inhaling poison from the air.

Bureaucratic and political corruption is the main reason for lethal pollution in Delhi. While the corrupt authorities in Delhi are not taking any steps to tackle pollution, the distressed citizens have no other option but to leave the city.

It is now being observed that many people are running away from Delhi like refugees or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A survey revealed that 35 percent of residents want to leave Delhi because of increasing pollution in the city. As a result, India is falling in the category of countries with large IDP populations – such as Syria, Colombia, Iraq, Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia.

Worse, instead of controlling pollution in Delhi, the corrupt authorities are deliberately spreading pollution across the city by imposing cruel policies that encourage lethal construction in group housing societies where millions of people live. The massive construction projects are spreading dust pollution, noise pollution, and air pollution in Delhi as well as surrounding areas. 

The complaints from the residents to get avoidable construction and pollution stopped in the housing complexes of Delhi are falling on deaf ears. A petition letter was sent on October 14, 2021 to the Supreme Court of India and other authorities to get this construction and pollution stopped, but the harmful construction continues.

As the government is corrupt and courts are complicit in environmental crimes in India, the pollution levels are increasing exponentially in the country. More than 480 million people living in the vast swathes of central, eastern, and northern India, including New Delhi, endure significantly high pollution levels, said a report prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). 

The report – released in September 2021 – adds that air pollution is likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40 percent of Indians by more than nine years. The effect in Delhi is worse.

But the government is not perturbed and allows people to die because of its carelessness and reckless policies that are damaging the local environment and posing a serious environmental threat to other parts of the world. As pollution levels remain dangerously high throughout the year in India, all travelers including business executives, tourists, and diplomats need to exercise utmost caution while planning to visit India – particularly India’s capital New Delhi.

Moreover, companies and investors must not come to Delhi for setting up their businesses or for trade conferences as pollution can harm them as well as their families. Foreigners, who have come to stay in Delhi for their work, should preferably go back to their countries. Or, at least, they should not keep their children with them because Delhi’s pollution is very harmful for children.

As pollution in Delhi / India is harmful to millions of Indians as well as people in other parts of the world with its impact on global warming and climate change, its lethal effect is equivalent to weapons of mass destruction.

The Indian government including bureaucrats and politicians are causing serious environmental damage which is harmful for the entire planet. Therefore, the global community including the UN and the U.S. Department of State and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) must impose strict economic, diplomatic, and trade sanctions on India.

The Indian ministers, politicians, and top officials must be punished with travel bans on them and freezing of their assets, and they should be declared as environmental terrorists.

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[ Download and Read: TOXIC CITY: A Consultative Report on Pollution in New Delhi ]

[ Research Report: Lethal Gas Chambers of India: Research Report on Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Environment Protection: Join Green Group of Delhi ]

[ Read: Clean Climate Environment News Magazine ]

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Dust Pollution: As construction dust includes cement particles, it is more harmful than ordinary dust in the atmosphere. If construction activity is carried out in localities where people live, dust pollution will cause serious, incurable diseases among them. The diseases include irritation in eyes, skin rashes, coughing, sneezing, hayfever, asthma attacks, and amnesia.

In order to inform the people of Delhi as well as the government, on this page Raman Media Network (RMN) will carry the relevant articles particularly about the pollution in Delhi.

You can read the following articles:

[ Pollution in Delhi: People Inhaling Poison from the Air ]

[ Pollution in Delhi ∝ Corruption in Delhi ]

[ Again, New Delhi Is the World’s Most Polluted Capital City ]

[ Delhi Air Quality Deteriorates as Corrupt Govt Allows Pollution Activities ]

[ U.S. Leaders Urged to Protect Environmental Rights of People in Delhi ]

[ NASA Images Show Soaring Levels of Air Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Spineless Supreme Court Fails to Tackle Pollution Problem in Delhi ]

[ Schools Closed as Air Pollution Killing People in Delhi. Pollution Lockdown Expected ]

[ UN HRC Petition to Protect Environmental and Human Rights of People in Delhi ]

[ Lethal Pollution Killing 150 People Everyday in Delhi ]

[ Pollution Killing More People Than Covid-19 in Delhi ]

[ Delhi Govt Plans to Collect Real-Time Pollution Data ]

[ Delhi Govt Launches Red Light On, Gaadi Off Program to Control Pollution ]

[ Delhi Asked to Take 10 Measures to Control Air Pollution ]

[ Kejriwal Must Resign for His Failure to Control Covid and Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Pollution: People of Delhi Inhaling Poison from the Air ]

[ Supreme Court on Pollution: Delhi Is Worse Than Hell ]

[ Construction Causing Severe Pollution in Delhi. Health Emergency Declared ]

[ India Launches Green Crackers to Reduce Air Pollution ]

[ Campaign Launched to Control Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Lethal Gas Chambers of India: Research Report on Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Children to Govt: Save Us from Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Gurgaon, Delhi Among the World’s Most Polluted Cities ]

[ India Launches National Clean Air Programme in Polluted Delhi ]

[ Pollution Shortens Lifespan of Delhi Residents by Over 10 Years ]

[ Air Pollution May Cause Mass Exodus from Delhi ]

[ Over 90% of Children Breathe Toxic Air Every Day: WHO ]

[ Join RAFAR to Save People from FAR Construction and Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Poisonous Particles + Noise Nuisance = Death for Delhi ] – Research Report

[ FAR Construction and Pollution Poised to Kill People in Delhi ]

[ 10 Steps to Stop FAR Construction and Pollution in Your Housing Society ]

[ Delhi Is a Wakeup Call for World on Air Pollution: UNICEF ]

[ Delhi Residents Unite to Stop Construction and Pollution in Dwarka ]

[ Save the Senior Citizens of Dwarka from Lethal Dust Pollution ]

[ Dust Pollution: Your Children Are Not Safe in Delhi ]

[ Life-threatening Environmental Hazard at DPS Housing Society in Delhi ]

[ Dwarka Campaign to Stop Pollution in Delhi Gathers Momentum ]

[ How to Reduce Air and Dust Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Government Takes Steps to Control Air and Dust Pollution in Delhi ]

[ How to Deal with Vehicular Pollution in Delhi ]

[ Construction Causing Deadly Pollution in Delhi: NGT ]

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Founder, RMN Foundation [ Website ]
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