Bollywood actress and new mommy Richa Chadha voiced her concerns about Delhi's alarming air quality, criticising those bursting firecrackers despite the severe Air Quality Index (AQI) levels in the national capital. Richa, who was brought up in Delhi, took to her official X account on Wednesday (November 20) and said it is 'heartbreaking' to see people not taking air pollution seriously.
A video showing celebratory firecrackers in Delhi has gone viral on social media. It was shared by a user with the caption, "Celebrating 1000+ AQI."
It caught Richa's attention and the actress expressed her anguish in a post. She wrote, "Death sentence called life in Delhi." Reflecting on her deep connection to the city, she wrote, "The city of my childhood, my school, my roots… 💔 Heartbreaking to see the apathy and sheer hatred for oneself."
Addressing the inaction surrounding Delhi's air quality crisis, and urging citizens to take a stand against practices that worsen pollution, Richa further wrote, "Politicians will do nothing unless we learn to speak up for ourselves."
Delhi's AQI levels have been consistently in the "severe" category, raising concerns about the health impacts on its residents. The city's struggle with pollution peaks every year during winter because of stubble burning and increased vehicular emissions.
On November 16 too Richa had slammed the government for failing to provide any solutions to the issue.
"We Indians must have really low self-esteem, really low sense of hope and justice… that all over North India the air quality is so so so bad, year after year, and there’s no protests! Just silence. The govt taxes us highly, on everything… and gives us no solutions to this problem. It doesn’t matter which party is in power, or who you support, your lungs don’t know the difference," she wrote on X.
"Older people, babies, animals all suffer. Adults have chronic cough, congestion. The festive season and onwards becomes scary for most, if not all. And the we do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as we all slowly get poisoned. That’s a sign of very, very poor self worth. Sad," Richa added.
