The AQI In Parts Of Delhi Was 999 Today. Paris Had Declared Air Emergency At 114

Delhi's pollution levels are rising and now things have reached the point of emergency. According to PTI, the air quality is going from bad to worse and is virtually unbreathable.

Parts of NCR have breached the 1000-mark on the AQI. In some places, it has touched 1200. On a consistent basis, certain areas have been between 990 to 999 or so which is not something to take lightly.

VK Soni, who heads IMD's environmental research centre, was not optimistic of a major improvement in the air quality in the days to come.

"The air quality is likely to be recorded in the upper end of the ''very poor'' category on Diwali if we discount firecrackers emissions. If people burst crackers, pollution levels can increase to ''severe'' to ''severe-plus'' category (emergency)," he said, as per a PTI report.

PTI

So the question that this raises is this. Should Delhi shut down? The air quality has reached alarming levels and this why more than anything we have to shut up shop for some time at least.

As if COVID was not bad enough, this is one added hassle.

This is where Delhi needs to take a page out of the books of other prominent cities around the world. Back in 2016, Paris has an AQI of 114 and it did not wait for things to get worse and slowed things down in order to get the air quality back on track. As of now their AQI is 35, which is really good.

PTI

Last year, parts of Hong Kong also shut down when the AQI touched 400. Delhi is almost 3 times that and things are continuing to go on as if nothing has happened.

Delhi is no stranger to air pollution, especially in the winter months. But right now, even by Delhi standards, things have reached a breaking point. At least some, if not all parts of NCR must be shut down or the odd-even system can be implemented again.

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Things are not looking good right now. In a place where COVID cases are spiking, the last thing one needs is poor air quality.