'Grateful to be living in Goa': South African cricket legend Jonty Rhodes says Delhi air 'hard to digest'

NEW DELHI: South African cricket legend Jonty Rhodes has drawn attention to the worsening air quality in Delhi, describing the city’s pollution as “hard to digest” while contrasting it with the clean air of his home in coastal Goa.

“Passing through Delhi en route to Ranchi this evening, and as always, it's hard to digest the low levels of air quality here,” Rhodes wrote on X, adding, “Am grateful to be living in a small fishing village in South Goa.” He tagged the post with #AQI and #whats2Bdone.




Delhi woke up to a thick layer of smog on Monday, with temperatures dipping to 11.6°C and the city’s air quality remaining in the “very poor” category.



Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at 6:05am showed an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 346.

Pollution levels were dangerously high across most monitoring stations. Bawana recorded the worst AQI at 412, followed by Wazirpur (397), Jahangirpuri (394), and Nehru Nagar (386), according to the CPCB’s Sameer app.

The capital has been experiencing deteriorating air quality for four consecutive days, edging closer to the “severe” category. Sunday’s average AQI was 370, the second-highest of the season after October 30, when it reached 373.

While mornings remained heavily polluted, wind activity later in the day brought slight relief. On Sunday, the AQI measured 391 at 8am and 389 at 11am, improving marginally by 4pm, when the official 24-hour average is recorded.

Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa pointed to a slew of measure being taken by the city govt, including installing sprinklers, fixing pollution norms for industries etc, while attacking the previous AAP govt, stating that while they let Delhi’s pollution worsen for 10 years and expect it to be cleaned in 7 months.

“The inaction of pollution of 10 years cannot be fixed in 7 months. AAP commented on the location of the Bawana monitoring station, which was installed by them. They spent money on advertisements and not on fixing pollution. We are working to make the situation better,” said Sirsa.