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 Illegal crop burning in the farm states surrounding New Delhi,
vehicle exhaust emissions in a city with limited public transport
and swirling construction dust have caused the crisis, which arises
every year.
The problem has been compounded this year by still conditions, the
weather office said.
A U.S. embassy measure of tiny particulate matter PM 2.5 showed a
reading of 608 at 10 a.m. when the safe limit is 50.
An hour before it was 591.
PM 2.5 is particulate matter about 30 times finer than a human hair.
The particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs, causing heart
attacks, strokes, lung cancer and respiratory diseases.
Residents complained of headaches, coughs and smarting eyes.
"Waking up with a headache, breathlessness & throat irritation every
day," Bhavani Giddu wrote on Twitter.
Many people stayed home and restaurants in some of the city's most
crowded parts were deserted.
"I'd like to assure people that the central government shall do
everything possible to bring about improvement in air quality in
Delhi and the Nation Capital Region," federal environment minister
Harsh Vardhan said as authorities faced criticism for failing to
take steps to fight a problem that erupts every year.
The haze covered India Gate, a war memorial in the center of the
city where Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla paid their
respects on Thursday.
The city will curb car use next week, the state government said, the
latest attempt to clean the air.
New Delhi will follow an "odd-even" scheme for five days starting
Monday in which cars will be allowed on the roads based on whether
their number plates are odd or even.
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"It is an emergency situation," said Delhi Transport Minister
Kailash Gahlot.
In other measures, commercial trucks have been banned from the city
unless they are carrying essential commodities, all construction has
been stopped and car parking charges raised four times to force
residents to use public transport. Schools have been shut for the
week.
But experts said these measures were unlikely to bring immediate
relief.
"There is such a cloud over us that you probably need artificial
rain or some such to clear this," said Dr Vivek Nangia, a
pulmonologist at Delhi's Fortis hospital.
Video images shot by ANI, a Reuters affiliate, showed farmers
illegally burning crop stubble in Rohtak, about 65 km from Delhi.
Farmers in Haryana, where Rohtak is located, and Punjab, the two big
agrarian states surrounding Delhi, burn millions of tonnes of crop
waste around October every year before sowing the winter crop of
wheat.
State authorities say it is hard to enforce the ban unless farmers,
a powerful political constituency, are given funds to buy machinery
to clear their land.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said in a Twitter post:
"Situation is serious but Punjab helpless as problem is widespread &
state has no money to compensate farmers for stubble management."
(Editing by Nick Macfie)
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