Smog-fighting helicopters in Delhi can't fly because of the smog

A 'pioneering' method to tackle the toxic haze wasn't exactly thought through well enough

Anna Freeman

14 Noviembre 2017 16:35

When an ambitious plan to tackle Delhi’s catastrophic pollution problem were unveiled, hope rang out that the government was finally taking the issue seriously.

Helicopters were going to be specially employed to fight the vast smog that is currently suffocating the city, but when it came to dispatching the aircrafts, they could not fly because the toxic haze was so thick. The irony.

Accusations that Narendra Modi’s government is failing to take the crisis seriously were further fuelled on Tuesday when the environment minister, Harsh Vardhan, urged residents to remain calm, saying only ‘routine precautions’ were needed, even though air quality levels remain ‘severe’.

The city authorities had engaged a state-owned helicopter company to spray water over Delhi in the hope of settling the thick haze of pollutants. But on Monday administrators were told they would be unable to help dissipate the smog until the smog itself had cleared.

‘Right now, with the prevailing smog, it is not possible for the helicopters to carry out operations,’ the chairman and managing director of the company, BP Sharma, told the Indian Express. ‘We have communicated the same to the Delhi government. There was a meeting regarding this on Monday.’

Via The Guardian

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