New Delhi: The holiday season is over, but N Dhar, dean of a private educational institute in the city is busy booking her tickets to Conoor, a hill station in Tamil Nadu, at a local travel agent’s office in Paharganj, New Delhi. She is set to leave the city on Monday along with her family with an open ticket to return.
Dhar is not alone at the dingy office. She is jostling for space with around 15 other “masked individuals”, all looking for a temporary escape from the smog-hit Delhi, or in Dhar’s own words, “Maut ka dhuan” (smoke of death).
As the city reeled under a thick layer of smog for the second week – an “emergency-like situation” according to Union environment minister Anil Dave; a “gas chamber” if you ask state chief minister Arvind Kejrwial – Delhiites are looking for their own private solutions as governments of the day blame each other. Those who can afford it are moving away from the national capital, and those who can’t are lining up to buy gas masks and air purifier. Those who can’t afford either are coming up with their own unique solutions to safeguard their lungs.
On Sunday afternoon, Troyee Moitra, 28, a management professional and recent mother, was busy hunting for ‘reliable air pollution masks’' near Hauz Khas Market. “My daughter was a premature baby and was on incubator since the past few weeks. We got her home just a day after Diwali but haven’t opened our windows since then. I am leaving for Jamshedpur tomorrow and I don’t want to return until the situation improves here,” she told News18.
Moitra is not alone, around 20 such people News18 spoke to across South Delhi echoed her concern. Mohammad Shahbaz, a perfume shop owner in Jangpura, has his tickets booked for Malegaon in Maharashtra where he has relatives. “My father was released from AIMS on Sunday morning after he reported breathing problems. I suffer from Asthma. Though closing down business would affect the monetary aspects but I intend to live and that’s why I am relocating to my native place for a few months. I can’t even sleep peacefully,” he said.
Delhi, being the national capital, is also home to one of the largest expat community in the country. It is also the starting point for any tour of the 'Incredible India' package but the thick smog has taken a toll on foreigners who landed in Delhi.
Three students from Osaka in Japan who visited India on a tour landed up in Delhi just a day before Diwali and are already leaving the city for Pune on Monday. Daichi, Syuki, and Eiichi speaking to News18 says, “Our eyes hurt severely and all three of us have throat issues. Doctors have advised us to move to other cities in order to avoid this polluted air. We might come back here on our way back but that would just be to board our flight.”
But far away from the ones who can afford to leave the city and travel to other places in pursuit of cleaner air are the ones who have no option to battle the smog daily. Labourers working at small restaurants in the dingy alley of Chawri Bazaar cannot afford a mask. They have heaps of cloth wrapped around their face and while dishing out hot tandoori roti’s to customers.
“My wife passed away couple of months ago due to Chikungunya, I guess this smog will take me to her now,” said Rafique, a labourer from Midnapore working at a kabab shop in Chawri Bazaar.
Rafique shares a room with nine others near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi – the most congested part of the city – and have hardly opened their window since the past few days. “I cannot open the window. My eyes burn and I have to report to work very early in the morning. Let’s see how long can I work. The government should atleast provide us good quality masks free of cost,” he said.
Across the aisle in the pollution debate, medical shops are scrambling for fresh stocks to meet the surge in demand for masks. Rajat Gupta, working at a medical store in New Ashok Nagar in East Delhi, felt that medical shops would soon start charging ‘black market rates' for the air masks. “We placed an emergency order of 400 masks. The masks arrived at 2 pm today and by 4 pm we were taking fresh orders. Even suppliers can’t meet the demand,” he said.
Fortis Medical Shop near Delhi’s tony Khan Market was teeming on Sunday with customers hurriedly jotting down their names on a register named ‘air mask orders'. “What will happen if entire Delhi starts demanding for the same thing? Demand is huge and mostly people are opting for the expensive ones and the cheap ones are not being sold,” a staffer, who didn’t want to be identified, told News18.
Delhi, it seems, is being left to fend for itself.
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