AUTHORITIES in the smog-ridden Indian capital New Delhi today extended an emergency schools closure by a week, with no signs of improvement in the megacity’s choking levels of pollution.

Every autumn New Delhi is blanketed in acrid smog, primarily blamed on stubble-burning by farmers in the neighbouring agrarian states.

The city is ranked as one of the most polluted on the planet, with its annual smog blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths.

“As pollution levels continue to remain high, primary schools in Delhi will stay closed till 10th November,” Delhi’s Education Minister Atishi posted on X.

Secondary schools “are being given the option of shifting to online classes” said Atishi, who uses only one name, after days of high pollution levels.

The Indian capital – which has a population of 30 million – once again ranked as the world’s most polluted city today, according to monitoring firm IQAir.

Delhi annually imposes restrictions on construction and orders some vehicles off roads when pollution reaches severe levels.

The farmers in neighbouring states are a powerful electoral lobby and elected leaders have long resisted calls to impose fines for their actions.

New Delhi is set to host a cricket World Cup match tomorrow between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

But both teams cancelled their training sessions over health risks from the smog.

Severe smog levels are expected to persist for several more weeks.

Levels of the most dangerous PM2.5 particles – so tiny they can enter the bloodstream – reached 570 micrograms per cubic metre today according to IQAir, nearly 40 times the daily maximum recommended by the WHO.

A Lancet study in 2020 attributed 1.67 million deaths in India during the previous year, including almost 17,500 in the capital.

And the average resident could die nearly 12 years earlier than expected, according to an August report by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.

India relies on coal for energy generation, resisting calls to phase it out.

Its per capita coal emissions have risen 29%. – AFP, November 5, 2023.