Hundreds of people staged a rare protest in Delhi on Sunday, demanding urgent action to tackle the city’s worsening air pollution as air quality continues to deteriorate across the capital and nearby regions.
Over the past three weeks, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI), which measures PM 2.5 levels — fine particulate matter that can damage lungs — has remained between 300 and 400, 20 to 30 times higher than the World Health Organization’s safe limit.
Protesters carried banners and chanted slogans calling on the government to act. Around 80 demonstrators were briefly detained near India Gate after police said they did not have permission to gather there, reports BBC.
Air quality in Delhi and its suburbs is poor year-round due to vehicle emissions, dust, and industrial pollutants, but it worsens in winter as crop stubble burning in neighbouring states combines with low wind speeds, trapping pollutants close to the ground.
Though air pollution is a recurring problem in northern India, Sunday’s protest marked the first significant public demonstration on the issue in some time. On Monday morning, Delhi’s AQI was 330 according to the federal government-run Safar app. Levels above 400 are considered severe, though private monitors reported even higher readings. The Air Visual app by Swiss company IQAir showed pollution between 414 and 507, categorising it as hazardous.
About 400 men and women, including children, took part in the protest at India Gate. Several wore gas masks in a symbolic gesture. Banners read ‘Right to live, not just survive’ and ‘Life in Delhi: Take birth, breathe, die’. Police later released all those detained.
"India Gate is not a protest site. It is a high-security area," senior Delhi Police officer Devesh Mahla said, noting that all the detainees were adults.
Several opposition leaders, university students, journalists, and environmental activists joined the protest.
Delhi’s environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Sunday night that the government is taking all possible steps to address the issue.
"We have installed anti-smog guns in all high-rise buildings, dust mitigation is being done across the city through water sprinklers, all construction sites are being monitored, and we have increased electric vehicles in Delhi's fleet of public buses," he said in a video statement.