Air Pollution: Delhi Air Quality Settles in ‘Very Poor’ Category After Brief Respite

New Delhi: Delhi’s Air Quality settled in the ‘Very Poor’ category after fluctuating between ‘Poor’ and ‘Very Poor’ for the past three days. The Air Quality Index (AQI) on Monday noon was recorded at 324. This comes after a 3-day respite, as light rains are said to have washed away the toxic pollutants. As per the experts, the pollution levels are likely to increase over the next few days owing to the unfavourable weather conditions.

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’.

Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) has claimed “significant drop” in stubble burning in neighbouring states and the pollution levels are being blamed upon the local sources of pollution like vehicle emissions, dust and biomass burning.

Delhi currently is polluted with its own pollutants. Stubble burning has negligible effect on it, said Mahesh Palawat, a director at private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

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Fire counts from stubble burning declined significantly and hence have negligible impact, a SAFAR report said.

Fourteen areas in Delhi recorded ‘very poor’ air quality and 14 recorded ‘poor’ air quality, a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report said. Across NCR – Gurugram with an AQI of 255 or ‘poor’ was comparatively better than all other regions of the national capital territory which had AQI above 300 in the ‘very poor’category. Ghaziabad at 335 , Greater Noida at 313, Noida at 336 and Faridabad AT 308.

On Monday, the LEVEL OF Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5, pollutants in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres, was recorded at 167, while the PM10 level was recorded at 307, according to CPCB data as against the safe levels of as safe levels of 25 and 50 (24-hours mean) respectively according to CPCB.

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Air quality is ‘very poor’ and is expected to remain in the same category with gradual increase for the next three days as wind speed is slow and humidity is high which is unfavourable, the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) said.

SAFAR has noted that high humidity is unfavourable for dispersion of the pollutant.

With wind speeds set to fall till November 20, the pollution may rise.

However, air quality will improve with Delhi receiving fresh north-westerly winds from November 21, Mr. Palawat added.

SAFAR has also issued an advisory cautioning people in Delhi to avoid outdoor physical exercises.

With inputs from IANS.

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.