Delhi’s Air Quality Index Improves Marginally But Remains In ‘Very Poor’ Category

New Delhi: Following the action after being nudged by the Supreme Court to curb the rising air pollution in the national capital, Delhi’s air quality on Monday (November 15) witnessed marginal improvement as the air quality in the capital city reached the lower end of ‘very poor’ category with Air Quality Index (AQI) at 318 (overall), according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The pollution level in the National Capital Region (NCR), especially Noida and Gurugram, have also shown slight improvement.

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Noida reported AQI in the upper end of the ‘very poor’ category at 387, while the air quality in Gurugram has seen significant improvement and has now reached the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category at 317.

As per SAFAR’s bulletin, the AQI is likely to improve by tomorrow “as winds at transport level are slowing down resulting in lesser intrusion of farm fires related pollutants into Delhi.”

However, according to SAFAR, calm local winds reduce the dispersion of pollutants, the net effect of which is likely to make air quality remain very poor category. The effective farm fire count for yesterday was 3445, contributing to 12 per cent of Delhi’s PM2.5.

Implementation of lockdown for the two days with restrictions in anthropogenic activity emitting pollutants, air quality may improve a little but likely to remain in the very poor category if stubble burning share does not increase, SAFAR’s bulletin read.

The agency further said that the AQI is likely to deteriorate from November 16 night onwards due to calm wind conditions, as predicted.

On November 17, it is likely to be in the upper end of very poor category, they added.

The mercury in the capital city has dropped to 11.8 degrees Celcius on Sunday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Owing to high levels of air pollution, schools in Delhi and Haryana have been closed. All construction activities have also been shut down.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.