Burning wood, coal and biomass indoors exposes families to high levels of smoke and toxic particles
\n NEW DELHI
\nSoaring black-market prices of cooking gas in India\u2019s capital are pushing poorer families back to wood and coal, raising health risks and worsening air quality in the highly polluted megacity.
\nIndia is the world\u2019s second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is used for cooking and predominantly sourced from the Middle East \u2014 and supplies have been strangled by the ongoing war.
\nIndia\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged states to curb black marketing and avoid panic, stressing that India\u2019s energy supplies remain stable.
\nIn the low-income Madanpur Khadar neighbourhood, 36-year-old domestic helper Sheela Kumari says she has been forced to abandon LPG cooking gas cylinders for cooking after prices more than doubled.
\n\u201cWe used to buy cylinders for INR 1,800-2,000 ($19-$21), but now on the black market it has gone up to 5,000 ($53),\u201d she told AFP, nearly as much as she entire monthly salary of INR 6,000.
\n\u201cIt is unimaginable for us,\u201d she said. \u201cThe next best option for us was going back to wood and coal.\u201d
\nKumari said a 14 kilogramme cylinder lasts only 15-20 days for her family of six, even when they stretch its use out.
\nBut she says a 10 kilogramme bundle of firewood, lasting several days, costs 30 rupees ($0.30).
\n\u201cThere are health repercussions, and my children cough,\u201d she said. \u201cBut tell me a way out?\u201d
\nToo expensive\u203a
\nHer neighbour, 45-year-old Munni Bai, who has asthma, had switched to using an electric cooker as well as biogas from cow dung, to help her breathing. But now she said she was being forced to resume use of alternative fuels.
\n\u201cGas is too expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cWe cannot depend on it \u2014 we moved from coal and wood, due to my health issue, but now it is difficult to sustain.\u201d
\nBut activists say the problem is more about access.
\nMany migrant workers lack documentation needed for subsidised LPG and rely on informal markets, where hoarding has pushed up prices.
\n\u201cThere is no major shortage yet, but hoarding has increased,\u201d said Deepak, who uses only one name, from the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR).
\n\u201cMany migrants depend on black-market cylinders, and prices have gone up two to three times\u201d.
\nNew Delhi, and its wider sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents, is regularly ranked among the world\u2019s most polluted capitals, due to a deadly mix of emissions from power plants, heavy traffic, as well as the burning of rubbish and crops.
\nFor the past decades, India\u2019s government has pushed its \u201cUjjwala\u201d or \u201clight\u201d clean-energy scheme, to provide over 100 million LPG connections to poor households.
\nBurning wood, coal and biomass indoors exposes families to high levels of smoke and toxic particles, increasing the risk of respiratory illnesses.
\nWomen and children, who spend more time near cooking areas, are especially vulnerable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Burning wood, coal and biomass indoors exposes families to high levels of smoke and toxic particles NEW DELHI Soaring black-market prices of cooking gas in India\u2019s capital are pushing poorer families back to wood and coal, raising health risks and worsening air quality in the highly polluted megacity. India is the world\u2019s second-largest buyer of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n