Health experts fear that the effects of COVID-19, primarily respiratory problems, could be worsened by heightened air pollution due to smoke from the annual stubble burning.
Indiscriminate dumping of industrial effluents and untreated municipal waste in the Sutlej river, and various other channels flowing into it, is causing unprecedented incidence of cancer and other health hazards in the three states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The unprecedented focus on air quality in the national capital over the last two weeks has been made possible by the access to scientifically validated real-time data, among both citizens and policymakers.
