The gas chamber

Unchecked pollution has made Kathmandu a dangerous place to live.

As if the dip in the temperature was not enough, Kathmandu on Monday felt like a gas chamber as the city dwellers found themselves suffocating, their eyes burning, and the sky clouded by thick fog. Ditto with the dwellers of two major cities in the east and the west respectively, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj. AQ AirVisual, a Swiss group that collects real-time air-quality data from around the world, said Kathmandu was the most polluted city in the world on Monday, with PM2.5 levels reaching 488 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3) at 5:45 pm at Ratnapark station as per the United States Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality Index. The air became slightly better on Tuesday and Wednesday, although it remains unhealthy for most of the population of the country, raising concerns among city dwellers, health professionals and government officials.