A thick layer of dust has settled over the Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR). Environmental institutions issued alerts as air quality dropped to severe levels on Thursday evening. The amount of suspended particulate matter has reached harmful levels. People are surprised that air quality has worsened in the summers. For long air pollution seemed to be only a winter woe, with the winter smog-causing more and more respiratory problems for the residents of the Capital. Delhi, already struggling with air pollution seems to be doing not too well with the heat that summers bring. It is the increase in the average temperatures that cause the atmosphere to lose moisture and thus leading to depressions which then pull winds from the oceans. No rains and harmful emissions from numerous factories no wonder the air seems to be laden with dust.
Though authorities have been warning the general public since the beginning of the week, it was only on Thursday that serious alerts were issued. The Environment Ministry has warned the public that air quality may remain poor for the next 2-3 days. It advised people to not stay outside for long hours and use filter masks to prevent irritation. The state government issued a notice to stop all the construction going on in the city. The fire brigade has been asked to sprinkle water all over the city to clean up the dust. The meteorological department said that it is not unusual that we experience a few dust storms before the monsoon arrives but this year the dust haze has lasted longer than usual because of delay in monsoon rains.
It is no surprise that rains seem to be scarce for Delhi. Despite the fact that Delhi suffered quite a lot of problems in November last year, the government seems to be taking no action against factories that keep on popping up everywhere. The authorities have to understand that these severe levels of pollution is not a seasonal problem. A report issued by the World Health Organisation last month claimed that the world’s 14 most polluted cities are in India, with Delhi the sixth most polluted city.