CNN —Thick, toxic smog has once again enveloped northern India and eastern Pakistan just days before the start of Diwali, a Hindu festival typically celebrated with fireworks that each year sends air quality plummeting.
Schoolgirls wearing masks ride a motorcycle as they leave school amid a rise in smog levels in Lahore, Pakistan on October 25, 2024.
India’s air pollution has been found to be so bad, that experts have warned smog could take years off the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
Delhi had banned the use and sale of firecrackers ahead of Diwali, but the policy has been difficult to implement.
Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times/Getty ImagesSome Indian cities have seen improvements in their air quality, according to government data, but progress has been slow.
Persons:
Arif Ali, Sanchit Khanna, Arvind Yadav, ’ ” Jyoti Pande Lavakare
Organizations:
CNN, Getty, India’s, Hindustan Times, Air
Locations:
India, Pakistan, Delhi, Pakistani, Lahore, AFP, Punjab, Haryana, New Delhi, New