New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality inched closer to the ‘severe’ category on Monday (November 27) morning with calm winds and cloudy conditions trapping pollutants, according to monitoring agencies. A thick layer of smog blanketed Delhi and its suburbs, reducing visibility to just 600 metres at 8 am at the Safdarjung Observatory, the national capital’s primary weather station. The visibility was 800 metres at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
An official at the India Meteorological Department said a slight increase in wind speed and light rainfall may bring marginal relief during the day. Unfavourable atmospheric conditions are likely to persist for two to three days, the official said.
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Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) stood at 400 at 9 am.
The 24-hour average AQI, recorded at 4 pm every day, was 395 on Sunday, 389 on Saturday, 415 on Friday, 390 on Thursday, 394 on Wednesday, 365 on Tuesday, 348 on Monday and 301 on November 19. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’ and above 450 ‘severe-plus’. The national capital has recorded 10 severe air quality days this November so far. The city recorded just three severe air quality days in November last year, while it experienced 12 such days in 2021, the maximum in the month since the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) began monitoring.
There were nine such days in November 2020, seven in 2019; five in 2018; seven in 2017; 10 in 2016, and six in 2015, according to CPCB.
According to a joint project by the Delhi government and the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, biomass burning was the top reason for Delhi’s foul air, contributing 31 to 51 per cent to the capital’s air pollution in the last few days.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has directed agencies and departments concerned to ensure strict implementation of curbs on polluting vehicles and check the increasing incidents of biomass burning.
Also Read: People Need To Be On Alert To Curb Air Pollution: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai
(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 the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. 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 a world post 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 well-being, 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, which 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.
