New Delhi: Rains washed away pollutants, thereby significantly improving the national capital’s air quality which was in the ‘moderate’ category on Tuesday (May 14), said the monitoring authorities. The air quality index (AQI) of the city was recorded at 138 on Tuesday according to the central government run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research Institute (SAFAR), while the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded Delhi’s AQI at 147. The air quality continued to be in the moderate category on Wednesday as well and the AQI recorded by CPCB in the morning was 188.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
The overall air quality in Delhi was in the “moderate” category due to rains. The level of Particulate Matter 2.5 (particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) was recorded at 64 and PM10 at 156, the SAFAR said. The SAFAR said,
Air quality will improve further and touch satisfactory soon due to cloudy sky and light rains/thunderstorm. However, SAFAR model predicts that AQI may deteriorate to ‘poor’ by May 17 as upper winds are likely to be favourable to bring some impact of stubble burning from north India which is at its peak as per the fire counts. However, unlike winter, winds are fast enough to disperse the pollutants quickly.
Delhi’s air quality was oscillating between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ for the last few days due to a dust storm in northwest India which led to a sharp increase in the PM2.5 level.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
