A capital choking to death on its garbage

India's capital, New Delhi, will be an overcrowded, powerless slum buried deep under garbage by 2001 unless immediate measures to contain pollution, overpopulation, crime and chaotic traffic conditions are implemented.

According to the National Capital Regional Planning Board, the city slums which at present comprise 28 per cent of Delhi will encroach on all available space in two years.

At that stage 57 per cent of people will have no water, 41 per cent no sewage facilities and 40 per cent no power.

In a presentation recently to the Delhi chief minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, the capital's principal planning body said those who cannot afford to migrate from the capital will be buried deep under sewage and garbage, as already over-stretched facilities prove inadequate.

City traffic too will slow from 14km an hour to 5km as slums spill over onto roads.

To resuscitate Delhi - bursting with nearly 13 million residents - the board has recommended the immediate raising of local taxes to deter migrants, shifting industries and corporate headquarters out of the city, allocating over 40 billion rupees (£579 million) for water and power, and building a new road network.

Officials said about 2,000 metric tons of pollutants were daily released into the city's atmosphere. The incidence of respiratory diseases is already 12 times the national average.

Besides, about 12 per cent of children in Delhi are asthmatic due to pollution, which is expected to rise by 72 per cent in five years.

New Delhi also has nearly three million vehicles and the world's highest road accident death rate - six people per day - in addition to which thousands are either permanently maimed or badly injured each year.

India's urban development minister recently said Delhi was a dying city full of slums and declining standards of life.

"I am concerned about the lungs of Delhi," said Mr Ram Jethmalani.

Ecologists, however, say that despite the looming environmental apocalypse, the attitude of the government and local citizens remained indifferent and impersonal.

And although a few non-governmental organisations have made a beginning in tackling Delhi's ecological degradation, a lot more needs to be done before sanity can be restored on the roads and pollution brought under control.

"A strong-willed government backed by conscious and alert citizens can tackle this problem," says Mr Binoy Sharma, an environmental writer.