“Should Delhi Even Remain Indian Capital?” Shashi Tharoor Asks Amid Worsening Air Crisis

New Delhi: As the city’s worsening toxic smog surged past 60 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday questioned whether Delhi should remain the Indian capital.

A thick layer of smog has been enveloping the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) for the past few days with the air quality index (AQI) plummeting to the “severe-plus” category, forcing authorities to switch schools to online classes and invoking strict pollution control measures.

“Delhi is officially the most polluted city in the world, 4x hazardous levels and nearly five times as bad as the second most polluted city, Dhaka. It is unconscionable that our government has been witnessing this nightmare for years and does nothing about it,” Tharoor posted on X.

The Congress MP said he had run an Air Quality Round Table for experts and stakeholders, including MPs, since 2015 but “gave up” last year because “nothing seemed to change and no one seemed to care”.

“This city is essentially uninhabitable from November to January inclusive and barely livable the rest of the year. Should it even remain the nation’s capital?”  Tharoor added.

Delhi and the surrounding areas, which are home to about 7 crore people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter as cold air traps dust, emissions and smoke from illegal stubble burning by farmers in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana to clear their fields for ploughing.