New Delhi shuts plant to fight Deepavali smog

NEW DELHI: India’s environmental watchdog shut down a coal-fired power plant and banned the use of diesel generators in New Delhi as air quality plummeted in the world’s most polluted capital on the start of the Deepavali festival.

New Delhi experiences suffocating smog every year around Deepavali, when farmers in north India burn the stubble left behind after the harvest and revellers let off smoke-spewing firecrackers.

The onset of winter aggravates the problem as the cooler air traps the pollutants, a phenomenon known as inversion.

The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Board, a statutory body, made the ruling as levels of PM2.5 pollutants in the air reached around 200 micrograms per cubic metre – eight times the World Health Organisation safe limit of 25.

“Difficult situations demand tough responses and solutions and Delhi is faced with a really difficult situation each winter when air pollution levels spiral out of control,” said its chairman Bhure Lal in a statement.

The Board said the city’s Badarpur power plant, which has a capacity of around 700mW, would be closed until March. The plant is due to shut down for good next July as India seeks to move away from heavily polluting fossil fuels.

It also banned the use of the privately owned diesel generators that many rich households rely on during India’s frequent power cuts.

The measures follow a temporary ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi introduced earlier this month by the Supreme Court to ease the pollution levels.

Last year, levels of PM2.5 – the fine particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease – soared to 778 in the days that followed Deepavali. — AFP