Many diplomats packing their bags as breathing at risk in New Delhi

After pollution level soars high, Costa Rican envoy left the country, others move their staff to nearby countries

Foreign diplomats in New Delhi lead a life that is the envy of many. They have plush salaries, send their children to international schools and host 'parties' on the weekends. But for many of these envoys, this sweet, comfortable lifestyle is missing one aspect key to everything else: clean, breathable air.

This month, pollution levels in the Indian capital have hit record high, and conditions have turned so sour that a number of foreign dignitaries are mulling leaving Delhi for the time being.

Some, Costa Rican ambassador for instance, have already left the city after complaining about respiratory problems, and many others have been calling in sick in order to avoid breathing in the toxic air on the journey to work.

According to the Indian Express, some diplomatic missions have moved their nonessential staff to nearby countries like Singapore.



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has toured the world to boost the country's image on the international stage. His recent trip to Manila for the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was an effort in this regard, but tensions at home that leave diplomats gasping for air may dent his ambitions to bring foreign investment to India.

“I’m a living proof that our planet is dying today, coughing as I write with my Indian bronchitis,” wrote Mariela Cruz Alvarez, Costa Rican ambassador to India, in a blog post.



Pollution levels in Delhi have peaked in November. Levels of carcinogenic PM 2.5 particles in the air were 70 times over the safe limit as prescribed by the World Health Organisation, and the air quality index reached 999 microgrammes per cubic metre, the highest instruments can measure.

A number of factors contributed to the spike, including crop burning in surrounding states, construction and vehicles in the city, and a lack of wind to blow the dust away.

A recent study in the British medical journal Lancet linked 2.5 million deaths in India in 2015 to pollution.

Responsibility for curbing the pollution quickly descended into a finger-pointing match, with state and central government ministers blaming each other for the crisis.

Modi’s environment minister, Harsh Vardhan, in a television interview underplayed the impact of pollution, saying that it could not be directly linked to deaths.

“No death certificate has the cause of death as pollution,” he said.



In the end, little has been done and the main remedy still appears to be waiting for the wind to blow it away - a response that no doubt has also made it into the diplomatic dispatches home.

By Thursday, the government had already rolled back several measures introduced over the weekend to curb the smog, as the haze lifted and air quality readings slightly improved.

Trucks were allowed to reenter the city and construction was allowed to resume.

This article originally appeared in The Washington Post