80% Delhi-NCR households have one or more individuals struggling due to toxic air: Survey
New Delhi (PTI):Eight in 10 Delhi-NCR households have one or more individuals who faced difficulty with toxic air in the last four weeks, while four in 10 households had four or more individuals falling sick due to it, according to a survey by LocalCircles.
The survey asked residents on Delhi NCR, "How many members of your household (including kids) in Delhi NCR have struggled with toxic air or pollution in the last four weeks?"
Out of 18,253 Delhi NCR residents who responded to the question, 36 per cent said four or more individuals in their household have been affected by the toxic air in the last four weeks.
At least 21 one per cent indicated two to three members in their household were affected, while the same percentage of respondents indicated one individual was facing pollution-related issues.
The survey received over 53,000 responses from residents of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.
Of the total, 61 per cent respondents were men, while 39 per cent respondents were women.
LocalCircles is a digital community-based platform.
A blanket of smog has persisted over the city since Diwali, with air quality oscillating between the "poor" and "very poor" categories, and occasionally slipping into the "severe" zone.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
