Delhi pollution impact: Paytm founder flies out, Japanese delegation reschedules visit

With air pollution levels rising 40 times over the innocuous limits in Delhi this year, the city has turned into a cybernetic gas chamber

Paytm founder and one of India’s leading entrepreneurs Vijay Shekhar Sharma flew out of Delhi on Sunday night to evade the smog that has swamped the national capital. Thick smog has shrouded New Delhi since the Diwali festival. The Capital witnessed the nastiest spell of smog in a season on Sunday.

Sharma lives in the Greater Kailash area of upscale South Delhi. He left with his family to avoid the Delhi smog. Sharma annulled half-a-dozen appointments and an office employee review meeting this week in Paytm’s Noida head office. According to a report of Economic Times Sharma said, “Air is really bad in Delhi and I’m allergic to dust.”“In the past few years, every winter we do have such a situation, but this year has been the worst. I think I’ll have to move out of Delhi every year from mid-October”, Sharma added. Sharma also sent a mail before leaving to the Paytm employees, asking them to use masks and averting coming to office if they feel so. He said “We are seeing unprecedented air pollution in Delhi-NCR. Our admin team is working to get air purifiers and more plants to avoid pollution and clean air in office. I have also ordered five air purifiers from China for different floors in Noida.” 

GP Gurnani, Tech Mahindra CEO also told the Economic Times that the Japanese delegation visiting the company has rescheduled their trip and is visiting Mumbai instead of Delhi 

 

Meanwhile other corporate majors have also come forward to shield their employees’ by distributing masks and allowing flexi-shifts in order to help them eschew the harmful impacts of smog. Idea Cellular has provided face masks to its employees and allowed flexi-timings to assist them in reducing their exposure to pollutants in air. At SAIL , the employees have been advised to take cautionary measures including wearing masks. They also have been advised to limit their out-of-office assignments and conduct the work through telephone and e-mails. Pollution levels have stretched to disquieting levels in the city. Sirifort in south Delhi and Anand Vihar in east Delhi, among other places, have registered high levels of pollution, both on particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM 10 scales. 

Read more: India Inc steps in to protect their employees from air pollution
 

Apart from India Inc, several celebrities also took to Twitter to lament about Delhi's air pollution. 

 Dia Mirza tweeted a series of photos from the protest, urging all to take action.

Stop blaming governments. Become a part of the solution. Citizen participation. #DelhiSmog #MyRightToBreathe pic.twitter.com/NkZH4Hj5wm

— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) November 6, 2016

Twinkle Khanna also joined the protest and posted on Twitter, ‘The air quality in Delhi is so terrible that it is off the graph and the other cities will reach that level soon enough.’

The air quality in Delhi is so terrible that it is off the graph and the other cities will reach that level soon enough #myrighttobreathe pic.twitter.com/ZAywj1OcZL

— Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) November 6, 2016

Anupam Kher posted a picture of Delhi smog on Twitter and wrote “Sky is full of it at 11.41 a.m. Eyes burning. Lethal and dangerous for people living here. Needs immediate attention.”

Virat Kohli has also posted a video on his Instagram account in which he expressed concern over mounting pollution levels in Delhi. In the video, he stated that he was bothered by the pollution levels and admonished the people to tackle the situation urgently.

 

PLEASE act urgently and take measures to improve the situation in delhi. The future of our city's youth depends on how we act now. It's heartbreaking to see the pollution levels rise so high. It's the need of the hour to take care of the environment people. Please be more aware.