India's government banned non-essential construction in New Delhi, the world's most polluted capital, and urged residents to avoid burning coal for heating, to combat worsening air quality that has disrupted flights and obscured the Taj Mahal.

Thick and toxic smog shrouds India's cities and tourist sites:: November 15, 2024:: New Delhi, India"There are a lot of problems due to pollution. The elderly have difficulty breathing. We get symptoms such as sore throat,

Toxic smog blanketed northern India on Thursday, becoming too thick to see through in several places, as high levels of pollution combined with humidity, low wind speed, and a drop in temperature, officials said.

Toxic smog in India and Pakistan has caused air quality in the major metropolitans of Lahore, Multan, Delhi and Chandigarh to deteriorate to toxic levels.

Residents of India's capital New Delhi choked in a blanketing toxic smog Wednesday as worsening air pollution surged past 50 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum.

A sharp spike in Delhi's air pollution was witnessed in the past 24 hours with 30 out of 36 monitoring stations reporting a severe air quality index.

India’s government banned non-essential construction in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital, and urged residents to avoid burning coal for heating, to combat worsening air quality that has disrupted flights and obscured the Taj Mahal.

With cities in India and Pakistan ranking among the world's most polluted, new technologies must be adopted to tackle dangerous levels of winter smog, environmentalists urge.

Toxic smog shrouded India's iconic Taj Mahal in Agra on Thursday (November 14), rendering it barely visible from the surrounding gardens of the 17th-century monument. The dense haze also enveloped the Golden Temple,