The world wide lockdown and restrictions on movement to contain the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a drastic reduction in air pollution. This was proven for the city of Jalandhar on Friday as Himachal’s Dhauladhar ranges were visible from this city in Punjab.

The snow-covered mountain ranges situated in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district to Mandi became a sight to behold for the people of Jalandhar, with netizens posting pictures of the unprecedented view.

When people of #Jalandhar saw #Dhauladhar range first time ever. Dhualdhar’s mountain ranges lies at a distance of 213 kms from Jalandhar. This is how pollution made us blind !! PC Net. pic.twitter.com/Q0qNmaybJw

Advertisement

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) April 3, 2020

Geeta Basra, wife of Cricketer Harbhajan Singh who is from Jalandhar, also shared the image of the Dhauladhars on her Twitter account as she said, “Clear indication of the impact the pollution had done to this planet.. A beautiful clear view of never seen before Dhauladhar range mountains in Jalandhar.. There is a very strong message in this.”

Clear indication of the impact the pollution had done to this planet.. A beautiful clear view of never seen before Dhauladhar range mountains in Jalandhar.. There is a very strong message in this.. pic.twitter.com/5FrafIKA9C

— Geeta Basra (@Geeta_Basra) April 3, 2020

The reduction in air pollution has been observed world over as many factories, vehicles, flights stopped functioning to contain the deadly coronavirus.

It is not just India but worldwide that the impact of multiple lockdowns can be observed. Quarantining and lockdowns have forced many countries’ industries to shut down, with many factories closing their doors. The World Economic Forum reports, images from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), as well as satellite footage from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), show a drastic decline in NO₂ emissions over recent months, particularly across Italy and China.

According to NASA scientists, the reduction in NO2 pollution was first apparent near Wuhan, but eventually spread across the world. Millions of people have been quarantined in one of the largest such actions in human history. “This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” said Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Liu recalls seeing a drop in NO2 over several countries during the economic recession that began in 2008, but the decrease was gradual.