‘Choking death trap… never seen anything like this in 40 years…’: William Dalrymple on Delhi’s pollution

He also shared a graphic as per which one was “smoking 40 cigarettes per day” just by walking outdoors in the capital.

Just arrived back in Delhi to find the city embalmed in an all-enveloping burial shroud of pollution. Even at 2pm impossible to see 100m across the runway.
I’ve never seen anything like this in forty years of living here. What a fate for the City of Djinns- still, at its best the… pic.twitter.com/F0l8SRJWTw

— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) November 18, 2024

John Reed, South Asia Bureau Chief of Financial Times, posted on X on Sunday: “The air in Delhi today is the worst I remember it in two years here. You can’t spend more than a few minutes outdoors without gasping and feeling ill. Indoors is not much better, even with air purifiers.”

Kaushik Basu, professor of Economics at Cornell University and former chief economist at the World Bank, said that for any responsible government in India, the top priority should be pollution control in cities like Delhi. “In addition to diminishing the quality of life, this kind of pollution, left unchecked, can bring India’s growth story to an end,” he wrote in a post on X.

For any responsible government in India, the top priority should be pollution control in cities like Delhi. In addition to diminishing the quality of life, this kind of pollution, left unchecked, can bring India’s growth story to an end.

— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) November 18, 2024

‘PM 2.5 level 45 times WHO recommendation’

Meanwhile, Alban Alvarez, bureau chief at FRANCE24, said on X: “Air pollution is skyrocketing in #Delhi. The level of particulate matter PM 2.5 is 45 times above the WHO recommendations, according to the US Embassy.”

In a recent interview with The Indian Express, Ganbold Dambajav, ambassador of Mongolia, too, expressed concerns over pollution.

“I’m really concerned about my family and the embassy staff (due to pollution). I think the pollution is partly due to the actions of humans. I believe we have to take care of ourselves. Post Diwali, I tell all my staff to wear masks when they go out. Inside, I ask them to put an air purifier and a dehumidifier. November, December, and January are the worst,” he had said.

For Dambajav, however, it is not a new phenomenon. “Back home (in Mongolia) we have very bad pollution during the winter… For me, pollution is not such a new thing… but of course, I have to look out for my family. I think pollution is present everywhere in the world.”