Breathing in Delhi is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day, thanks to the deadly air pollution that turned worse after people defied Supreme Court¡¯s order and burnt firecrackers shamelessly.
Over the last two weeks the air quality index (AQI) has been deteriorating rapidly and at some places in the national capital, it even breached the mark of ¡®999¡¯, beyond which the air quality cannot be measured.
A group of concerned individuals came together to just show how badly the lungs are affected due to toxic air. They installed a giant pair of lungs in front of the busy Shri Ganga Ram Hospital in Rajender Nagar. The initiative was taken by Jhatkaa.org, a Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation, in collaboration with local environmental NGOs Help Delhi Breathe and Lung Care Foundation.
India Today
They thought that it would take at least a month for the lungs to turn dark, given the hazardous air quality in the national capital. To their surprise, and not much to ours, the ¡®lungs¡¯ turned black in a span of six days.
They changed colour in a matter of mere 24 hours. Burning firecrackers escalated the damage.
Help Delhi Breathe
The organisation now plans to install a fresh pair of lungs and install them outside a different hospital.
Despite Supreme Court¡¯s order to burn firecrackers between 8-10pm in the national capital, people clearly flouted the direction. An estimated 5 million kilograms of crackers were burst in Delhi this Diwali.