Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is set to leave for New York to attend the diaspora meet - Loka Kerala Sabha - will on Friday land in the city which is shrouded in thick smoke and haze emanating from wildfires in Canada.
Vijayan, who arrives on Friday in New York, will visit the 9/11 memorial besides the UN headquarters.The diaspora event is spread over two days and his participation in it starts on Saturday and Sunday and both these events happen in Times Square, which at the moment is engulfed in smoke.
Much of the smoke is coming from Quebec, where 150 fires are burning and millions of people in North America have been advised to wear N95 masks outdoors as smoke from Canada's wildfires is blowing across the US, turning the air quality "unhealthy".