EXTRA MECHANICAL SWEEPERS, WATER SPRINKLERS FOR STADIUM

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), on Friday, said that it is making “special arrangements” for the first T20I between India and Bangladesh on November 3 (Sunday) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Ferozeshah Kotla. “Last time (December 2017), we learnt through news channels that the Sri Lankan team, which had come to play, had suffered breathing issues due to the smog. This time as well, the situation is not good, but we want to make the environment as conducive for the players as possible,” a senior SDMC officer said.

Extra water sprinklers, extra mechanical sweepers and more patrolling teams to keep pollution in check are being put in place. “We will deploy four extra water sprinklers in the area, which have a capacity of spraying 5000-10,000 lt of freshwater in the ambient area in a day. These help to settle down dust and smog to a large extent. Two-night patrolling teams to check garbage burning in the vicinity, two extra mechanical road sweepers, and at least 35 safai karmacharis (sanitation staff) will also be deputed here,” he said.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) air quality monitoring station nearest to the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds, which is located at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, showed both Particulate Matter (PM) 10 and 2.5 over five times the permissible limit on Friday 7 pm.

PM 2.5—a very fine grain of industrial and vehicular pollutant that lodges in the lower lung system leading to asthma, lung cancer, and heart diseases—was recorded at 301.0 µg/m3 as opposed to the acceptable limit of 60 µg/m3 only. PM 10 was recorded at 501.0 µg/m3 as opposed to the acceptable limit of 100 µg/m3.