New Delhi Is ‘Full of Pollution’
People living in New Delhi don’t just have to worry about the Yamuna. The air pollution in the city, which is regularly some of the worst in the world, took a serious turn for the worse last week following the festival of Diwali. Smog covered much of the city and some areas were designated as a “hazardous” air quality level, the worst level, with some places registering a PM2.5 pollutant measure of 999 per cubic meter, the maximum reading. A “satisfactory” air quality index is between 50 and 100, while much of the city was at readings over 500, categorized as “severe.” Air pollution alone kills an estimated 10-million-plus annually around the world.
“Delhi is full of pollution but still people’s lives are going on,” devotee Rajendra Mahto, who came to the Yamuna to bathe, told Al Jazeera. “Like that, we will also do our prayers.”
