Smog worsens in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: New Delhi’s homeless will be given cotton masks to help them survive in the world’s most polluted major city, officials said on Monday, although experts said the basic coverings would be useless against deadly smog particles.

Each winter the capital of 20 million chokes through haze so extreme that levels of airborne pollutants eclipse safe limits by more than 30 times. The poor and homeless suffer the worst, through constant exposure to a toxic brew of car fumes, factory exhaust and construction dust.

Measures to curb the smog -- from reducing heavy goods traffic and firecrackers to banning farmers from using fire to clear their fields -- have failed to clear the skies. Bipin Rai from Delhi’s city government told AFP that 10,000 face masks would be given "to homeless families, women, patients and children as pollution levels are on the rise".

But experts said these masks offered little to no protection against the most poisonous pollutants in the air -- particles known as PM2.5 so small they can penetrate the heart and cardiovascular system.