Delhi air slightly better, but brace for bad days

SOME AREAS BAD The air at west Delhi’s Mundka deteriorated to ‘severe’ level for the first time this season, while 18 of 36 monitoring stations in the city recorded ‘very poor’ AQI values

NEWDELHI: The national capital’s air quality slightly improved from ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ category on Thursday, as wind speed picked up marginally. However, even as the overall air quality index (AQI) improved by a few digits, the air at west Delhi’s Mundka deteriorated to ‘severe’ level for the first time this season while 18 of 36 monitoring stations in the city recorded ‘very poor’ AQI values. The air quality levels are expected to plunge further in the coming days, said officials in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The situation has not improved much even after the graded response action plan (Grap) to counter ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ levels of air pollution in Delhi-ncr came into effect from October 15.

Delhi’s AQI stood at 297 against Wednesday’s 313. Sprinkling of water on major stretches and mechanical sweeping of key roads are some of the measures, besides banning use of diesel generator (DG) sets, being implemented across the city for ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ categories of pollution listed under Grap.

“The slight improvement in the air quality is due to wind speed picking up to 8 kmph against yesterday’s zero. Good wind helps pollutants to disperse in the air. However, as per input received from the MET department, wind conditions are likely to remain calm over the weekend, which coupled with farm fires and local emissions, is expected to trigger a spike in pollution levels,” said a senior CPCB official.

Also, PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels -most prominent pollutants in Delhi-ncr -- more than doubled the safe standard recorded at 338.6 and 142.6 micrograms per cubic metres, respectively. The safe standard for PM 10 is 100 micrograms per cubic metres while for PM 2.5 is 60.

In at least 14 city monitoring stations that recorded very poor air quality, PM 10 was found as the major pollutant. PM 10 is mainly generated by road dust while PM 2.5 spikes mostly when there is little wind combined with particles such as soot and those from vehicular emissions. These are fine particles that are suspended in the air, prolonged exposure to which can cause respiratory problems.

The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (prevention and control) Authority (EPCA) chairman, Bhure Lal, said, “We are monitoring the situation closely. Also, we have asked agencies to keep a strict vigil around vacant pieces of land where people dump and burn the waste, which spikes pollution levels.”

This is the second edition of Grap that was launched last year as an emergency plan to counter alarming levels of air pollution.

In case of air quality dipping to ‘severe’ for 48 hours, measures such as banning construction activity and entry of trucks (except essential commodities) can be taken. The city government may also explore the possibility of implementing odd-even road rationing scheme.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and that between 401 and 500 is categorised as ‘severe’.

CIVIC AGENCIES INTENSIFY ACTION

With Delhi’s air quality level deteriorating, the civic agencies have intensified action against those burning leaves, garbage and dumping of debris in the open. Between October 1 and 17, South and East corporations issued 374 challans for different violations under the National Green Tribunal (NGT) norms.

“We have issued 106 challans, including four for dust pollution at construction sites and four for burning of leaves and garbage in open. Besides, 58 challans have