Strong local winds help AQI in Delhi to stay poor
New Delhi Delhi’s air quality deteriorated on Thursday but remained in the “poor” category for a second consecutive day, with an air quality index (AQI) value of 295, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin released at 4 pm.
The Capital’s AQI was 260 on Wednesday. Officials said the wind changed direction on Thursday, allowing stubble intrusion to reach Delhi, but local winds remained strong and did not allow the air quality to deteriorate significantly.
In the wake of this spell of relatively clean air, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) will hold a review meeting on curbs on Friday, officials said. “The CAQM is keeping a close watch on the changing air quality scenario of Delhi-ncr and accordingly, the Sub-committee of the
Commission on Grap will convene a meeting tomorrow (Friday) to comprehensively review the situation for appropriate decision,” CAQM said in a statement. Forecasts by the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, used by CAQM to take pre-emptive action, shows the city’s AQI is likely to remain “poor” until November 13.
VK Soni, scientist at IMD and part of the CAQM sub-committee on Grap, said despite the intrusion from farm fires, local wind speeds did not allowing pollutants to accumulate. “We will continue to see strong winds in the next two days and this will negate the impact of stubble emissions.”
The System of Air Quality of Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), said the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 pollutants was 8% on Wednesday -- up from a contribution of 5% on Wednesday.