 India court demands action over Delhi's filthy air New Delhi (AFP) Dec 2, 2015 - India's environmental court slammed the Delhi government on Wednesday for failing to improve its notoriously toxic air, as the capital spent another day blanketed in grey smog. The National Green Tribunal demanded authorities hold a crisis meeting to come up with a strategy to tackle the haze that has worsened across the city in recent days as winter cloud traps pollutants. "What is the status of air pollution? All you can say is that there is no pollution... All stakeholders who are dealing with air pollution indicate that Delhi is highly polluting," the bench said in remarks directed at the city government. "The level of PM2.5 and PM10, both are more than prescribed limits. We cannot permit such a state of affairs causing serious environmental pollution to prevail," the bench said, according to the Press Trust of India. A senior official told AFP that a meeting of top environmental experts was under way late Wednesday following the court's demand. Successive Delhi governments have faced flak for failing to clean up the city's filthy air, ranked as the worst in the world by the World Health Organization. Courts have been pushing authorities to act, including ordering a toll tax on the thousands of diesel-guzzling trucks entering the city every night. Smog levels soar in the winter when thousands of poor people light fires to keep warm. But unlike Beijing, which also suffers from hazardous haze levels, New Delhi does not issue public health warnings. The court's demand comes as global climate change talks continued on Wednesday in Paris. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the summit that rich countries should not force the developing world to abandon fossil fuels completely. A WHO study of 1,600 cities released last year showed Delhi had the world's highest annual average concentration of PM2.5 particles, less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter. PM2.5 particles are linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease as they settle deep in the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream. Delhi traffic policeman Ram Pranesh Singh described his job as like inhaling "slow poison". "The sweepers dust the sides of the roads, the cars pollute and I am in the middle inhaling the mix from morning to night," he said as he manned a busy crossing near New Delhi's presidential palace on Wednesday. "We are not given masks... it can be a pretty thankless job," the 48-year-old said.
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India on Wednesday deployed troops to Tamil Nadu and closed the main airport there after heavy rains worsened weeks of flooding that has killed nearly 200 people in the southern coastal state.
Thousands of rescuers carrying diving equipment, inflatable boats and medical equipment were battling to evacuate victims across the flooded state, officials said.
Thousands of passengers left stranded at the flood-hit international airport in the state capital Chennai were also being evacuated, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
"At least 10,000 police personnel and trained swimmers are being deployed to help with the rescue effort," Chennai police chief J.K. Tripathy told AFP.
He said 186 people had been reported killed in the floods, now in their fourth week.
India drafted in the army and navy to help with the rescue effort on Wednesday after torrential overnight rain.
"Rescue and relief operations in progress in areas of Chennai. 3 Army columns involved," the defence ministry tweeted.
Factories and schools closed and phone networks were patchy, while parts of the city of 4.3 million were without power, as weather officials warned of more heavy rain in coming days.
"The situation is a little grim. Some urban areas are totally flooded," said S.P. Selvan, deputy inspector general of the National Disaster Response Force.
One local lawmaker urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to declare a national disaster so that more rescuers and relief would flow to the state.
"It's such a bad situation. We need much more because the situation is so grave and the help that has come is not enough. People are marooned all over," Tamil Nadu lawmaker Kanimozhi, who uses one name, told the national parliament.
Television footage showed flood-hit residents wading through waist-deep water, many carrying belongings on their heads or in small boats.
Authorities said the airport would remain shut until at least Thursday, hampering efforts to bring in relief supplies.
The head of the Indian Meteorological Department, L.S. Rathore, said the heavy rain was expected to continue "for at least the next 72 hours" and rainfall was already 50 percent above normal for the year.
Rivers and lakes in the region "have become saturated and don't have the capacity to take in any more water", he added.
Modi cited the floods as a consequence of climate change in his weekly radio address on Sunday, a day before meeting other world leaders at a global climate summit in Paris.
Modi has repeatedly called on developed countries to do more to combat the impact of global warming on the world's poor, who experts say will be disproportionately affected.
India suffers severe flooding every year during the annual monsoon rains from June to September.
Factories closed in Chennai, a major auto manufacturing hub that includes Ford and Nissan. Many of the IT outsourcing centres located in the state also shut.
Bus and rail services were also hit, with many commuter trains into Chennai cancelled. Railway bridges in some areas had been washed away.
Local media said schools in the state capital had been closed and exams postponed.
Long queues formed at the few local ATMs still working in Chennai as residents withdrew money to stock up on supplies.
bur-tha/cc/sm
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