Delhi’s toxic air is wreaking havoc on the city’s social calendar, usually abuzz at this time of year. Pollution is forcing well-off Delhiites out of the city, at least temporarily. Yes, the well-heeled crowd of Delhi has ended up becoming pollution migrants. Even the Diwali parties aren’t motivation enough to brave the smog.
A thick layer of smog has enveloped Delhi, and weather officials have repeatedly been issuing warnings about the falling air quality.
The level of pollutant PM2.5 – particles that can penetrate the lungs and cause respiratory diseases – was at a "hazardous" 644 in some parts of Delhi on Monday morning, reported NDTV. This is twenty times the safe limit
The World Health Organisation has called Delhi’s air the worst compared to all other major cities on the planet. What else do you call a city where the levels of pollutant PM 2.5 have reached 20 times the safe limit prescribed by WHO!
"The AQI (air quality index) is predicted to be in the lower range of Very Poor today as the atmosphere is relatively clean," a System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) official told Press Trust of India.
The conversation on Twitter and WhatsApp groups is replete with updates of people leaving the city. What’s more? There is also lots of black comedy and tragi-comedy doing the rounds on social media about Delhi’s choking air.
We get you the conversation right here, in this video.
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