Delhi’s poor return to dirty fuel in COVID-19 lockdown

ABSTRACT

Speed read Some five million people were using unclean cooking fuels during COVID-19 lockdown Urban poverty worse than in India’s rural areas because of cramped living conditions Without subsidies millions cannot afford to use cooking gas in Delhi [NEW DELHI] COVID-19 lockdowns exposed many truths but none so stark as the poverty that exists in the Indian capital of New Delhi as desperate urban poor families were compelled to switch to wood and dung to keep home fires going. A study released this month by the environmental NGO Chintan suggests that urban poverty may be worse than India’s rural areas because of unhygienic living conditions, including high indoor pollution levels generated by burning biomass in confined living spaces. According to the study 36 per cent of low-income housing groups in New Delhi rely on ‘unclean’ sources of fuel for their cooking needs.