India is a rising power, but its capital is a deadly gas chamber

New Delhi – New Delhi wakes up with… Toxic smog He sleeps in the same harmful conditions.

In the hours between the two events, the 30 million residents of India’s metropolitan area struggle to walk, suffer from chronic headaches and itchy eyes, symptoms of this rising superpower’s failure to provide its people with very basic needs:

Experts at the country’s main research hospital describe the air as “dangerous and life-threatening”.

The level of toxic pollutants – resulting from cars, factories, and the burning of agricultural waste by farmers – has reached 20 times higher At recommended levels for safe breathing.

The problem persists new delhi, Even as other once-polluted capitals, such as Beijing, have succeeded in cleaning up their skies.

Last week, when the air became so dangerous, the government had to order half its employees to work from home, and journalists were working from home. New York Times They traveled across the city, from dawn until midnight, documenting the battle against bad air.

A daily PM2.5 level (a measure of the most harmful particles) of 15 µg/m3 is the standard for safe breathing.

We use a Air quality monitoring To make our own measurements of PM2.5 at key points, which we compare with official data.

What we found was a city No way of highly toxic air and residents resigned themselves to a public health emergency as their daily reality.

The runners started arriving before dawn.

They did warm-up exercises and started running along the central road that separates two memorials in New Delhi:

India Gate and Presidential Residence.

Even at that early hour, the smog was so thick that they couldn’t see each other.

Not far away, Dinesh Kamath, 72, was out for an hour-long morning walk in a public park.

For elderly people like him, winter, when pollution is at its worst, poses the same dilemma every year:

Staying at home and skipping healthy exercise, or stretching your legs outdoors at the expense of your lungs.

“I have to walk,” said Kamath, who runs an organization that promotes the ancient Sanskrit language.

We’ve seen the first of many “anti-smog guns”:

Sprinklers placed in water tanks and deployed throughout the city, including near major landmarks such as the Prime Minister’s Residence and major embassies.

Weapons were a topic of political debate. Many experts say the government is trying to mislead the public by spraying water around more than three dozen air quality monitoring stations to reduce their readings.

Many experts say the government is trying to deceive residents by spraying water around more than three dozen air quality monitoring stations Reduce your readings.

Opposition leaders accused the government of more brazen manipulation, claiming that data from many of these stations had disappeared during the worst hours of pollution.

When the children arrived at the classrooms at DTEA Senior High School, the level of hazardous pollutants at the entrance to the high school was more than 20 times the daily rate Recommended for safe breathing.

Education in New Delhi is disrupted every year due to pollution emergencies, with the government ordering students to stay home and take lessons online due to peak pollution levels.

For teachers and parents, these sudden measures add confusion to an already struggling education system.

Doctors at the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, the country’s most prestigious health institution, have reported a 30% to 40% increase in the number of patients arriving with respiratory problems.

They say that preventive measures at the individual level can have only minimal effects, at best.

“This is a public health emergency and must be treated as such now,” Dr. Anant Mohan, head of the pulmonary department, told local media.

At LNJP Hospital, one of the busiest hospitals in New Delhi, attendants and relatives of patients were resting on blankets in the hospital courtyard, where the concentration of PM2.5 was about 17 times higher than the recommended level for safe breathing.

In crowded hospital corridors, the concentration was about 10 times higher than recommended.

Shailendra Chauhan, 49, was shaving at a roadside barber shop. He works as a driver for an Indian IRS official.

He explained: “I have difficulty breathing and my eyes hurt.”

Chauhan said his boss recently installed a small air purifier in the car.

This made him think about how rich people purify the air in their homes.

Barber Muhammad Kaleem said he did not know what an air purifier was.

“We have to go out to work to support our children,” Clem said.

“We can’t stay home.”

On opposite sides of the busy market area of ​​Old Delhi, we find a stark contrast.

On the one hand, traffic on the main road in Chandni Chowk has long been restricted to auto-rickshaws and electric rickshaws.

Due to a festival held at a nearby Sikh temple, traffic was further restricted and sidewalks were washed twice a day for three days.

Near the temple, we measured PM2.5 at just over 10 times above the safe level for breathing.

But a kilometer away, where the traffic restrictions ended, was Reading Almost double.

Deepak Rawat, 31, makes his living at one of Delhi’s busiest bus stations where he works at a tea and biscuit stall.

Originally from the eastern state of Bihar, he said he opens his tea stall at 4 am and returns home at 10 pm.

He earns approximately $5 to $6 every day.

The strong smell of smog mixed with the smell of rot emanating from the large open sewer behind his parking lot.

“My eyes burn all the time.

“Some days, I get tired very early,” he said, trying to suppress a recurring cough.

He said he wanted to save some money and return to his city. He and his wife are afraid every winter because their children, ages 6 and 8, frequently fall ill.

“It won’t work here,” he said.

“Every year is the same.”

c.2025 The New York Times Company