New Delhi hits record pollution levels as thousands face penalties

New Delhi faces its yearly air-quality crisis with authorities taking strict action against rule-breakers. The cityʼs pollution levels reached a concerning 373 on the air-quality index (which considers 0-50 as good) making it the worlds most-polluted major city according to IQAir rankings

Local officials handed out fines to about 54k vehicle owners who didnt have proper emission certificates. Another 3.9k old vehicles got impounded due to age-related issues; while more than 7.5k construction sites faced penalties for breaking dust-control rules (597 had to pay extra fees and 56 got shut down completely)

The winter season brings extra challenges to the north-indian region — cold air traps emissions smoke and dust from nearby Punjab and Haryana farm-fires. The earth sciences ministry predicts air-quality will stay very-poor till mid-week; after that it might get even worse for almost a week

• Schools face regular closures
• Construction work gets limited
• People need to stay inside
• Health risks increase for everyone

The problem affects the whole South-Asian region. In neighboring Pakistan Lahore ranks as second most-polluted city worldwide — forcing primary-school closures and indoor-stay rules. Pakistani officials want to talk with India about cross-border pollution which they think comes from their neighbor

A study by Chicago University shows this bad air cuts more than 5 years from South-Asian peoples life-span. New Delhi has kept its unwanted top spot as worlds most-polluted capital for 4 straight years: showing how deep-rooted this problem is