Smog chokes Delhi, Lahore residents: World’s worst capital for air quality shuts down schools

NEW DELHI: India´s capital has shut schools and coal plants as it battles dangerous levels of air pollution in the region that on Wednesday left residents of Lahore in neighbouring Pakistan choking on acrid smog.

Air quality has worsened across northern India and adjacent parts of Pakistan in recent years, as industrial pollutants, smoke from seasonal crop burn-off, and colder winter temperatures coalesce into toxic smog.

Delhi is consistently ranked the world´s worst capital for air quality, with levels of pollutants last week reaching more than 30 times the maximum limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

The city on Tuesday ordered the closure until the end of the month of six of 11 coal-fired power plants surrounding the metropolis in a bid to tackle the filthy air. The move comes after India led the charge at the weekend to weaken anti-coal pledges at the UN COP26 climate summit, with critics saying it prioritised economic growth over the planet´s future.

The Indian capital of 20 million people has also cancelled school classes and urged people to work from home, while banning non-essential trucks from entering the city an effort to clean the smog.

In Pakistan, Lahore was declared the most polluted city in the world Wednesday by a Swiss air quality monitor. Lahore, a city of 11 million, had an air quality ranking of 348 according to Swiss air quality monitor IQAir, well over the hazardous level of 300 set by the WHO.

"Children are experiencing breathing diseases... for God´s sake, find a solution," labourer Muhammad Saeed told AFP. In recent years, Lahore residents have built their own purifiers and filed lawsuits against government officials in desperate bids to clean the air.

But authorities have been slow to act, blaming the smog on India or claiming the figures are exaggerated. Lahore is consistently ranked one of the world´s worst cities for air pollution. "We are poor people, we can´t even afford a doctor’s charges," shopkeeper Ikram Ahmed told.