‘82% Delhi-NCR residents know someone with serious illness linked to air pollution’

New Delhi: As Delhi vanishes behind a dense-grey curtain and toxic air continues to choke the National Capital Region, a new survey has found that 82 per cent of Delhi-NCR residents have one or more people in their close social network suffering from severe health conditions that they attribute to a long-term exposure to air pollution.

The survey, conducted by community platform LocalCircles, said 28 per cent of the respondents reported having four or more such individuals among family members, friends, neighbours or colleagues.

It said the health conditions include asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung damage, heart failure, strokes and cognitive decline, which the respondents linked to a sustained exposure

to polluted air.

Delhi choked under a thick blanket of smog on Monday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) settling at 498, which falls in the higher spectrum of the “severe” category.

The air quality was “severe” at 38 weather-monitoring stations, while it was “very poor” at two. Jahangirpuri, with an AQI reading of 498, recorded the worst air quality among all the 40 stations.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor” and 401 and

500 “severe”.

The AQI in Delhi climbed to 461 on Sunday, marking the city’s most-polluted day this winter and the second-worst-air-quality day in December on record, as weak winds and low temperatures trapped pollutants close to the surface.

The survey found Delhi-NCR air quality has stayed “very poor” to “severe” since late October, causing respiratory and cardiac issues, healthcare anxieties, and prompting 8 per cent of residents to consider leaving, based on over

34,000 responses.