© Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty ImagesVisitors walk through the courtyard of Jama Masjid amid heavy smog in the old quarters of New Delhi.
A situation that has cut off many necessary daily activities to the 18 million plus residents as visibility and breathing in the heavily polluted air is hard. According to a report by Cable news network (CNN), a government minister in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mahesh Sharma has blamed the unusually high pollution levels on a lack of wind and change in humidity levels.
Against a backdrop of online criticism on the slow pace of reaction, the government has introduced a host of measures to un-choke the city. It began will a closure of all schools, ban of crop burning in Delhi and surrounding states, vehicle emissions limited to only public transport and now a total on the entry of trucks and construction activities.
American news outlet, New York times in an article 'In India, Air So Dirty Your Head Hurts' says, most people feel nauseated all day, like from a never-ending case of car sickness. It further adds that the air tastes smoky and irritates the throat, and in some neighborhoods, it smells like paint.
Comment: Citing toxic smog that one official said has turned India's capital city into a "gas chamber," United Airlines has canceled flights to New Delhi until the air gets better and more than 6,000 schools have been closed for nearly a week.
Many New Delhi residents are complaining of respiratory problems and headaches. The low visibility has delayed flights, trains and caused highway pileups.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) was over 999 in some parts of the capital -- that's almost 30 times the safe limits set by the World Health Organization and 10 times more polluted than Beijing, the city infamous for air pollution.
A recent report found more than 5.5 million people die prematurely each year as a result of household and outdoor air pollution, with more than half of these deaths occurring in China and India, two of the world's fastest-growing economies.