NEW DELHI: As many as 75 per cent of the households in Delhi-NCR are experiencing health complications like sore throat, cough and burning eyes due to poor air quality, attributed to weather conditions and a seasonal spike in stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, shows a new survey.
Most residents also claimed that they started consuming food to boost immunity to cope with the ill effects of the air pollution, it said. The survey conducted by popular social media platform LocalCircles in October, asking residents of Delhi NCR about their ailments due to increasing air pollution, received a response from over 32,000 residents of Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, and Ghaziabad. They were also asked about the reason for the poor air quality.
The survey further said that around 40 per cent Delhi-NCR residents said they were suffering from breathing difficulty or asthma-like conditions. A similar number of residents said they have ‘runny nose or congestion’ and ‘anxiety’. Around 25 per cent of respondents said they had ‘difficulty in sleeping’; 13 per cent shared that they or their family members have developed headaches.
A total of 13 per cent of respondents stated that they have “no issues at all due to pollution”. The survey also explored the coping mechanisms of residents. Besides using air purifiers and trying to limit travel during peak hours, 60 per cent of the respondents indicated that they plan to consume immunity-boosting food, while 50 per cent plan to wear anti-pollution masks.
However, around 20 per cent of respondents stated that they “do not plan to do anything”. A majority of the residents blamed stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and UP for air pollution in Delhi, besides manual road sweeping, industrial and power plant emissions, road and construction dust, motor vehicle emissions and diesel generator emissions.
Around 76 per cent of the respondents said the major reason behind poor air quality is stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana, UP whereas 71 per cent attributed it to manual road sweeping; 59 per cent to industrial and power plant emissions; 59 per cent to road and construction dust; 53 per cent to motor vehicle emissions; 53 per cent to diesel generator emissions; and 47 per cent to waste burning.