The overall air quality in the national capital was
recorded in the ‘poor’ category, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 256 on the
morning of Thursday, as per SAFAR-India.
To mitigate pollution, water was sprinkled through an
anti-smog gun in the Anand Vihar area, as according to the data from the System
of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality in
Delhi stands in the ‘poor’ category.
As per the latest data from SAFAR, the air quality
around Delhi University was recorded at 316 (very poor) in the morning hours
today.
Noida recorded an AQI of 269 (poor) and Gurugram 176
(moderate).
Meanwhile, to reduce pollution in the national
capital, an anti-pollution drive is also going to start today.
A resident of the city, Bhagwati Prasad, said the
situation is very bad and there seems to be no solution as it happens every
year.
“The pollution situation is very bad. There has been
coughing and burning in the throat for the last few days. There seems to be no
solution, as it happens every year. There is a lot of traffic,” said Bhagwati
Prasad.
The overall air quality in Delhi was recorded in the ‘moderate’
category, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 190, as per SAFAR-India on
Wednesday.
With this marginal improvement in the overall air
quality on previous day, Environment Minister Gopal Rai urged, “I think that
comparatively, firecrackers were burst at a lesser number of locations this
time (during Dussehra). I would like to once again request that the States in
Delhi-NCR ban firecrackers because they are easily available to people. I think
if States around NCR ban it too, this will have a better impact on Delhi.”
On the improvement, the Environment Minister said, “Two
days ago, the AQI level in Delhi was above 300. A decrease in the AQI level has
been recorded and it has come below 300. I think that in the days to come, this
will keep fluctuating. It is being estimated that after October 30, this will
perhaps go up again.”
Further speaking on stubble burning, Gopal Rai said, “Stubble
burning is going on but the number of such cases is low as of now. But it is
being estimated that these cases will increase around October 30. It is to be
seen what kind of impact the measures taken up in Punjab have.”
As stubble burning continues in parts of Punjab and
Haryana, air quality in the national capital has worsened in the past few days.
According to data, over 2,500 cases of stubble burning
have been reported this year so far. However, farm fire numbers are better than
those of the previous two years.
The second phase of the Graded Response Action Plan
(GRAP) was implemented in Delhi to reduce the effect of increased pollution.
The Air Quality Index is a tool for effective
communication of air quality status to people in terms that are easy to
understand. There are six AQI categories, namely Good + Satisfactory,
Moderately Polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe.
Each of these categories is decided based on the
ambient concentration values of air pollutants and their likely health impacts
(known as health breakpoints). According to the AQI scale, the air quality
check between 0 and 50 is “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”,
201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 450 “severe”.
ANI
