Delhi Air Pollution Forces Ex-Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi to Move to Jaipur

As the air quality in Delhi plummeted post-Diwali, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who suffers from respiratory problems, moved to less-polluted Jaipur.

Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said Sonia Gandhi is in Jaipur for the next few days to avoid air pollution in the national capital. It is a purely personal visit, he said.

Doctors have advised 76-year-old Sonia Gandhi to move to a place where the air quality is better. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will meet his mother in Jaipur before heading for the poll campaign in Chhattisgarh, NDTV reported.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) bulletin released on Tuesday at 4 pm, Delhi’s average air quality in the past 24 hours was “very poor” with AQI at 397 while Jaipur’s AQI stands at 264 (poor).

In September, Sonia Gandhi was admitted to Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for treatment of a viral respiratory infection. She had also been hospitalised in January due to respiratory issues.

However, this is not the first time the Congress leader is moving to a different place due to air quality in the national capital. In November 2020, she shifted to Goa temporarily reportedly after Delhi’s poor air quality aggravated her chest infection.

Delhi’s Rain Relief Goes Up in Smoke, Local Emissions Push Air Pollution to Hazardous Levels

The city experienced “very poor” to “severe” air quality for two weeks starting October 28 and a suffocating haze lingered over the capital during this period. However, Delhi saw a sharp improvement in air quality just ahead of Diwali which can be attributed to intermittent rainfall on Friday and wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.

Despite the favourable impact of rain, air pollution across the national capital quickly escalated to hazardous levels on Diwali night turning the air noxious yet again. The PM2.5 levels breached the safe limits and showed an increasing trend on Monday.

After a brief respite over the weekend, a layer of toxic smog blanketed the region, reducing the visibility significantly.

WORSE DAYS AHEAD in DELHI?

According to the CPCB, no respite is expected over the next few days, and the pollution levels are likely to deteriorate. The forecast suggests the Air Quality Index is likely to hover around ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ levels over the next few days.

The predominant surface winds also remain calm and low night temperatures are leading to mist or shallow fog in the early hours. “If the weather conditions are unfavourable, the emissions from human activities will build up locally leading to dangerously high concentrations,” says Dr R Subramanian, sector head, Air Quality, at Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP).