Breathing a luxury? 5-star hotels offer clean air as quality drops across India

Bryan Johnson, US based millionaire entrepreneur, known for his ambitious age-reversal project, posted an image on social media platform X from The Oberoi Hotel in Bengaluru offering clean air as a premium service.

The image showed the guestrooms in the hotel had an average AQI of just 2.4, which was made possible through advanced air filter systems. The caption of the image read, "Hotel selling clean air as a service," garnering a huge response on social media. This instigated a deeper conversation about the commercialisation of basic necessities.

Users were quick to come to the defence of Bengaluru's AQI “Bruh, not sure if you’re whitepilled on India or actually trolling us,” a social media user commented on the post pointing the millionaire’s ‘obsession’ with the country.

“South India - South Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu are the Cleanest in India in Air Quality,” another joined the conversation. “I am in Delhi and trust me when I say! Bangalore is much better than other Indian cities,” a third wrote. “ oh come on leave Bangalore alone, yes we Delhites are here for the criticism,” a fourth defended.

Worsening air quality is now a pan-Indian phenomenon, a new Greenpeace India report revealed, Bengaluru's annual average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration in 2023 was nearly double the World Health Organisation's (WHO) prescribed standards, with the City Railway Station (Majestic) emerging as the most polluted area

Indian-origin investor and engineer Debarghya (Deedy) Das shared a similar image from the national capital which has been struggled as the air quality reached abysmally poor levels.

In the image Taj Palace Hotel advertised a guestroom had an AQI of 58 in contrast to the city's AQI of 397 on that day. This shows the widening gap between what is accessible to the wealthy as opposed to the average citizens, Das said.

Another user shared a snippet of Select City walk, stating, "Shopping malls in Delhi be flexing as well."

This prompts a deeper discussion on the worsening air quality of Indian cities and how clean air, a basic necessity is being offered as luxury to a few who can afford it.