Delhi's air quality hit record low three days after Diwali.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of mobile wallet Paytm and one of India's leading entrepreneurs, says the Delhi sky gives him a horrible sense of deja vu.
He has seen it in Beijing.
Mr Sharma's key investor is Chinese billionaire Jack Ma and he has been travelling often to China for the last few years. "Five years ago when I was in Beijing, I couldn't see a stadium 500-700 metres away. I told my friend it was horrid, but today morning the same thing happened with me in Delhi's Chankayapuri," the businessman has tweeted, sharing his worry on pollution in a series of posts on Twitter and Facebook. It was "depressing" driving in Delhi, he said.
As a thick toxic smog hangs low over the capital post Diwali, Mr Sharma told NDTV that he moved to Bangalore to escape Delhi's polluted air, but realised that city is not much better.
"I fear asthma will be a reality for children and families will have to go through what we are going through," he said, echoing the worry of many parents who feel trapped as they are forced to send their children out in Delhi's poisonous air.
The entrepreneur, who has created one of India's most valuable online companies, said there was an urgent need to support and invest in entrepreneurs looking for clean air solutions.
"I will invest in startups and am going to solely focus on these kinds of companies and not just for commercial gains," said Mr Sharma, who has invested in several companies, the latest being education start-up Unacademy.
India, he said, needs better data to measure pollution and cannot afford to underestimate its environment problems anymore. "We are not bothered about it, but the speed and pace of how pollution is growing is dangerous."
His argument is simple - "What point is growth and development if we can't give our children clean air?"
Disclosure: Paytm's parent company One97 is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360
He has seen it in Beijing.
Mr Sharma's key investor is Chinese billionaire Jack Ma and he has been travelling often to China for the last few years. "Five years ago when I was in Beijing, I couldn't see a stadium 500-700 metres away. I told my friend it was horrid, but today morning the same thing happened with me in Delhi's Chankayapuri," the businessman has tweeted, sharing his worry on pollution in a series of posts on Twitter and Facebook. It was "depressing" driving in Delhi, he said.
As a thick toxic smog hangs low over the capital post Diwali, Mr Sharma told NDTV that he moved to Bangalore to escape Delhi's polluted air, but realised that city is not much better.
"I fear asthma will be a reality for children and families will have to go through what we are going through," he said, echoing the worry of many parents who feel trapped as they are forced to send their children out in Delhi's poisonous air.
The entrepreneur, who has created one of India's most valuable online companies, said there was an urgent need to support and invest in entrepreneurs looking for clean air solutions.
"I will invest in startups and am going to solely focus on these kinds of companies and not just for commercial gains," said Mr Sharma, who has invested in several companies, the latest being education start-up Unacademy.
India, he said, needs better data to measure pollution and cannot afford to underestimate its environment problems anymore. "We are not bothered about it, but the speed and pace of how pollution is growing is dangerous."
His argument is simple - "What point is growth and development if we can't give our children clean air?"
Disclosure: Paytm's parent company One97 is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360
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