New Delhi authorities announced the closure of schools in the city from Saturday due to “dangerous” levels of air pollution from crop burning in the north of the country.
“We will close elementary schools from Saturday until the pollution situation improves,” New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters.
He stressed that “no child should in any way suffer from this problem.”
According to the Swiss air quality monitoring company IQ Air, the smallest and most harmful PM2.5 particles that can enter the bloodstream are 25 times higher than the maximum limit set by the World Health Organization.
As the air cools every winter, the metropolis of 20 million is dominated by a yellowish toxic haze caused by crop burning and industrial and motor vehicle emissions.
New Delhi consistently ranks first on the list of the most polluted cities in the world, and the Indian capital on Friday topped the list of major cities suffering from the most polluted air.
Source: AFP.