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India's harmful smog conceals Taj Mahal, delays flights

Poisonous smog obscured India's famed monolith to enjoy, the Taj Mahal, in addition to Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and delayed flights on Thursday, becoming too thick to translucent in several locations.

The city of Lahore in neighbouring Pakistan ranked as the world's most contaminated in winter's annual scourge throughout the region, intensified by dust, emissions, and smoke from fires burnt illegally in India's farming states of Punjab and Haryana.

In the city of Agra, the Taj Mahal was hardly noticeable from the gardens in front of the 17th-century monument, while dense fog wreathed worshippers at the Golden Temple in Punjab, television images revealed.

Delhi flights dealt with hold-ups, with tracking site Flightradar24 showing 88% of departures and 54% of arrivals were delayed.

Officials blamed high contamination, combined with humidity, becalmed winds and a drop in temperature level for the smog, which cut visibility to 300 m (980 ft) at the city's international airport, which diverted flights in absolutely no visibility on Wednesday.

More patients gathered to health centers, particularly children.

There has actually been an abrupt increase in children with allergic reactions, cough and cold ... and an increase in severe asthma attacks, Sahab Ram, a paediatrician in Punjab's Fazilka area, told news company ANI.

Delhi's minimum temperature level was up to 16.1 degrees Celsius ( 61 ° F) on Thursday from 17 degrees C (63 degrees F) the previous day, weather condition officials said.

Its contamination ranked in the 'serious' classification for the second consecutive day, with a score of 430 on an index of air quality maintained by the leading pollution panel that ranks a rating of zero to 50 as 'excellent'.

Contamination in New Delhi is most likely to stay in the 'serious'. classification on Friday, the earth sciences ministry said, previously. enhancing to 'very bad', or an index rating of 300 to 400.

The number of farm fires to clear fields in northern India. has risen steadily today to practically 2,300 on Wednesday from. 1,200 on Monday, the ministry's website revealed.

Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern province of. Punjab, was ranked the world's most polluted city on Thursday, in. live rankings kept by Swiss group IQAir. Authorities there have. also fought dangerous air this month.

(source: Reuters)