NEW DELHI: Hollywood actor
Leonardo
DiCaprio has lent support to the activists who have been highlighting Delhi’s
toxic
air quality, saying that they will “keep the pressure on until the air
pollution reaches safe levels”.
The Oscar-winning actor, who has nearly 38 million followers on Instagram, wrote a post about the “hazardous pollution levels” Monday night. DiCaprio, who is also an environmentalist, uses his social media handles to post about various climate emergencies from across the world. In June, he had taken to Instagram to highlight Chennai’s water scarcity.
“Over 1500 citizens gathered in at India Gate, in New Dehli (sic), to demand immediate action on the city’s hazardous pollution levels. According to the World Health Organisation,
air
pollution in India is estimated to kill about 1.5 million people every year; these statistics make air pollution the fifth-largest killer in India,” he wrote, while sharing six pictures showing a crowd of people with placards. The first picture shows a child holding a placard that reads, “I want a better future.”
Over the past few weeks,
Delhi’s Air
Quality Index (AQI) reached ‘Emergency’ levels several times. The actor also stated that the protests have led to the formation of a special panel to address pollution. The PM had set up a panel under Niti Aayog chairman Rajiv Kumar to come up with plans to curb air pollution in Delhi on November 5.
DiCaprio also highlighted that the panel will submit a report within 2 weeks. Among other things he wrote that “The Supreme Court of India asked the Central Government and respective state governments to fix the crop and waste burning issue of Dehli (sic) within a week, the Centre accepted that Green Fund will be used to combat toxic air pollution and the PM asked the Agriculture Ministry to distribute equipment urgently so that crop burning is no longer necessary.”
Despite these promises, the air is still unsafe and activists will keep the pressure on until the air pollution reaches safe levels, the actor wrote, while tagging initiatives that have been working to generate awareness around pollution, including Extinction Rebellion India, Let Me Breathe and Fridays For Future India.