‘Grateful to live in Goa’: South African cricket legend Jonty Rhodes says Delhi air is ‘hard to digest’ | Delhi News

NEW DELHI: South African cricket legend Jonty Rhodes has drawn attention to Delhi’s deteriorating air quality, calling the city’s pollution “hard to stomach”, while comparing it to the clean air at his home on coastal Goa.“Passing through Delhi on the way to Ranchi this evening, and as always, it’s hard to digest the low air quality levels here,” Rhodes wrote on X, adding: “I’m grateful to live in a small fishing village in South Goa.” He tagged the post with #AQI and #whats2Bdone.

Delhi woke up to a thick layer of smog on Monday, with temperatures dropping to 11.6°C and the city’s air quality remaining in the ‘very poor’ category.Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at 6:05 am showed an overall air quality index (AQI) of 346. Pollution levels were dangerously high at most monitoring stations. Bawana recorded the worst AQI at 412, followed by Wazirpur (397), Jahangirpuri (394) and Nehru Nagar (386), according to CPCB’s Sameer app. The capital has experienced deterioration in air quality for four consecutive days, approaching the “severe” category. Sunday’s average AQI was 370, the second highest of the season after October 30, when it reached 373. Although the mornings remained heavily polluted, wind activity later in the day provided some relief. On Sunday, the AQI was 391 at 8:00 a.m. and 389 at 11:00 a.m., with a slight improvement at 4:00 p.m., when the official 24-hour average is recorded.Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa highlighted a series of measures taken by the city government, including installation of sprinklers, setting pollution norms for industries, etc., while attacking the previous AAP government, saying they had allowed Delhi’s pollution to worsen for 10 years and expected it to be cleaned up in 7 months.“The pollution inaction of 10 years cannot be corrected in 7 months. AAP commented on the location of the Bawana monitoring station, which they installed. They spent money on publicity and not on pollution redressal. We are working to improve the situation,” Sirsa said.