Four days later, air quality drops to poor again

NEW DELHI: After four days of breathable conditions, Delhi’s air quality level on Thursday again dropped in the ‘poor’ category, with experts noting that if the wind speed further decreases, another dust haze could occur.

Meanwhile, the national Capital saw a cloudy Thursday morning, with minimum temperature recorded at 30.9 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season’s average, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Humidity, at 8.30 am, was 58 per cent, with the IMD has predicted some very light rains in the days ahead.

“It will be a partly cloudy sky with very light rains or drizzle likely,” an IMD official said.

Meanwhile, a panel of the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Centre and the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana over reported “massive deforestation” in the Aravalli hills “causing dust storms” in Delhi-ncr.

NHRC, in a statement, said, “Reportedly, the open forest cover in the Aravalli hills has decreased in the last three decades while the scrub has increased by 5.7 per cent, making it almost barren without any moisture in the air.”

The notices were sent to the chief secretaries of the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana, as well as the secretary of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and their response has been sought in six weeks.

The Commission took suo moto cognisance of media reports about massive deforestation in Aravalli hills for business interests in Rajasthan and Haryana, which has been a major cause of increasing dust storms and air pollution in the Delhi-ncr in the last few days.