'Should Delhi Even Remain Nation's Capital?': Shashi Tharoor's Stinging Post On City's Hazardous Air Quality

New Delhi: It's that time of the year and once again we have newspapers, television screens and social media space flooded with anguish of people over the hazardous air quality in the national capital. Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor raised the issue, calling Delhi "essentially uninhabitable" during this period. The Congress leader also questioned if at all Delhi should remian the capital of India. In a post on X, Shashi Tharoor cited Air Quality Index (AQI) data from Swiss air quality technology company IQAir, stating that Delhi has become the most polluted city in the world, following Dhaka. He criticised the government for "doing nothing" to address the issue. “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,” he wrote on X.

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. I have run an Air… pic.twitter.com/sLZhfeo722

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 18, 2024

The Congress MP said he had been running 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 asked. Delhi Shrouded In Hazaradous SmogAir quality in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) continues to be at "alarmingly high" levels, raising serious health and safety concerns. On Tuesday morning, most monitoring stations reported the city's AQI reaching the 500-mark (severe plus) as a thick layer of smog lingered for the seventh consecutive day. The AQI had been 494 on Monday, 441 on Sunday, and 417 on Saturday.