NEW DELHI — Toxic smog gripping New Delhi grew more intense on Thursday as farm fires raged in nearby fields despite a court-ordered ban, making India’s capital the world’s most polluted city again. ADVERTISEMENTThe city held the top spot on a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities on Thursday, with an air quality index of 509 around noon, according to Swiss group IQAir which categorized the air quality as “hazardous”. A northwesterly wind blowing over the city is carrying smoke from farm fires in nearby fields and the wind speed within Delhi is light and unfavorable for dispersion of pollutants, a meteorological department official said on condition of anonymity. There were more than 2,500 farm fires in Punjab state on Wednesday, north of Delhi, as farmers defied a Supreme Court-ordered ban on crop residue burning and the local police warned of legal action against them, The Indian Express newspaper reported. “Last week radars were indicating cloud cover around that time and now they are no longer indicating that,” Agrawal told Reuters by phone.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 16, 2023 11:47 UTC