Air quality ‘ very poor’, it may get worse over next few days

POLLUTION CPCB says poor wind speed, stubble burning may worsen situation

NEW DELHI: The air quality in the city nosedived to ‘very poor’ on Wednesday even before the onset of the winter and just days after stringent measures under the graded response action plan (Grap) came into force in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

The air quality index read 313, primarily due to wind speed dropping to zero. Other factors, including local emissions and stubble burning in neighbouring states, also played a part, says officials from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), who predicted that pollution levels would rise over the next few days.

CPCB is set to hold a task force meeting on Thursday to take stock of measures that need to be implemented to arrest the slide.

The PM10 particulate matter level on Wednesday was recorded at 326.8 micrograms per cubic metre, three times higher than the Cpcb-prescribed safe limit of 100. The smaller PM2.5 level on Wednesday was 138.7 mpcm, more than twice the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre. PM10 is mainly generated by road dust, while PM2.5 levels usually spike mostly there is low wind speed and soot and vehicular emissions are high.

“As wind speed dropped to zero, the pollutants could not disperse. Besides that, wind direction has changed to northwest, thereby carrying into Delhi pollutants from stubble burning incidents in Punjab and Haryana. Also, the festive rush on roads is adding to the vehicular emissions,” a CPCB official said.

Members of the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) said that measures such as a ban on diesel generator (DG) sets, ban on firewood in restaurants/hotels, augmenting public transport, and disseminating information on public platforms are already being implemented.