'I just want to breathe': New Delhi pollution protests | Weather news

A suffocating blanket of smog has engulfed India's capital, permeating the air with a pungent odor as pollution levels rise, intensifying a public health emergency that has prompted residents to demand government action.

By Monday morning, New Delhi's air quality index had reached 344, categorized as “severe” and dangerous for inhalation according to the World Health Organization's recommended exposure thresholds.

In a convincing show of public concern, dozens of protesters gathered in New Delhi on Sunday, calling for government intervention to combat the capital's toxic air crisis as dangerous smog blankets the city.

Children joined their parents at the demonstration, wearing protective masks and carrying placards, including one that emphatically stated: “I miss breathing.”

New Delhi, home to a metropolitan population of 30 million, consistently ranks among the world's most polluted capital cities.

Each winter, toxic smog obscures the horizon as cooler temperatures trap pollutants near ground level, creating a deadly combination of emissions from agricultural burning, industrial activity and vehicle exhaust.

Levels of PM2.5 – cancer-causing particles small enough to enter the bloodstream – regularly rise to concentrations 60 times the UN's recommended daily health guidelines.

“I am here today only as a mother,” said protester Namrata Yadav, who attended the protest with her son. “I'm here because I don't want to become a climate refugee.”

At the protest site near India Gate, the historic war memorial, PM2.5 readings exceeded the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum by more than 13 times.

“Year after year it's the same story, but there's no solution,” said Tanvi Kusum, a lawyer who explained that she joined because she was “disappointed”.

“We need to create pressure so that the government at least gets serious about the problem.”

Government measures to deal with the crisis have proven inadequate, including limited restrictions on fossil fuel vehicles and water trucks spraying fog to suppress airborne particles.

“Pollution is shortening our lives,” said a young woman who identified herself as “speaking for Delhi” and declined to be named.

A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were attributable to air pollution.

The UN children's agency UNICEF warns that polluted air dramatically increases children's susceptibility to acute respiratory infections.

As night fell over the smog-shrouded skyline, the crowd swelled until police intervened, forcing several activists onto a bus and confiscating their protest materials, claiming they did not have the proper permits to demonstrate.

A partially torn sign reflects the essence of their plea: “I just want to breathe.”