Photo Credit: Lionel Messi FB
By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI, Dec 15: Football star Lionel Messi’s arrival in Delhi, the last leg of his four-city India tour, was delayed on Monday as the Indian capital was engulfed in a toxic haze.
Messi, the legendary Argentine footballer, was supposed to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but could not reach Delhi in time from Mumbai. Modi left the capital on Monday on a four-day foreign tour.
But indifferent to the city’s toxic air, ecstatic fans gathered in a Delhi stadium to greet the football great.
Travel disruptions, curbs on outdoor public activities, and a spike in respiratory diseases are common in Delhi and its surrounding areas every winter when air pollution, a perennial crisis, becomes particularly hazardous between October and March.
Many children opted for online lessons instead of physical attendance on Monday, as Delhi region schools were directed to conduct classes in a hybrid mode after air quality became many times worse than what is considered a safe level by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Indian carriers reported dozens of flight cancellations and delays due to dense fog in Delhi in the morning.
The Singapore High Commission in New Delhi earlier issued an advisory after India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) invoked a set of tougher measures to deal with the situation.
“The Delhi authorities have urged residents to stay indoors, especially children and those with respiratory or cardiac ailments, and to use masks if stepping out. In this regard, the High Commission urges Singapore nationals in the Delhi National Capital Region to pay heed to this advice,” it said in a statement.
The air quality index (AQI) level in Delhi was reported close to the health emergency level of 500 on Monday.
A reading up to 50 is rated as “good”. The level of 201–300 falls in the “poor” category as per the Indian pollution agency’s classification and an AQI above 400 is considered as “severe”.
The Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) urban agglomeration has a population exceeding that of the entire Malaysia.
Transport fumes, industrial emissions, waste incinerations, and the seasonal burning of crop stubble by farmers in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab are among the major causes of air pollution.
When temperatures drop in winter, the level of PM2.5 rises many times over what is considered by the WHO as safe for human health. PM2.5 refers to particulate matter 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter, so fine that it enters the lungs and bloodstream.
— BERNAMA