Air Quality Remains Severe in 13 Cities; Delhi-NCR Most Polluted

The Delhi National Capital Region continued to record extreme air pollution levels on Thursday with cities like Ghaziabad, Noida, Palwal, Greater Noida and Delhi experiencing 'severe' Air Quality Index (AQI) values of more than 460.

Meteorological conditions played the villain for the capital region with stagnant weather hindering dispersal of pollutants.

Moreover, cloudy conditions lowered solar radiation and kept the mixing height—space available for the contaminants to disperse—very low. Under these conditions, pollutants remain trapped near the ground surface, deteriorating the breathable air quality.

The good news, however, is that forecasts suggest a significant improvement in the coming days. An approaching fresh western disturbance and an induced cyclonic circulation over southwest Rajasthan have started to affect northwest India. An increase in wind speed is expected during the weekend, which can flush out pollutants and improve air quality.

Further, SAFAR expects a drop in stubble fire count due to scattered rainfall over Panjab during the next two days. Moreover, stubble transport-level wind direction is not so favourable for the intrusion into Delhi-NCR. Therefore, SAFAR forecasts that stubble burning contribution is likely to reduce significantly by Friday to around 5%.

Other parts of NCR including Faridabad, Gurugram, Jind and Baghpat also recorded severe levels of air pollution, as per the Central Pollution Control Board's daily AQI bulletin. AQI values from 401 to 500 are classified as 'severe', and they can affect even healthy people while severely impacting those with existing diseases.

Apart from Delhi-NCR, other cities like Hisar, Dharuhera, Bhiwadi and Fatehabad also recorded severe pollution levels. In the east, Patna also struggled to breathe with 'very poor' air pollution levels of 389, inching closer to severe conditions.

With pollution levels hovering close to emergency levels, schools have been shut till Friday in Delhi. The pollution control authority has extended the ban on industrial activities till November 15.

"We have taken a lot of strict measures to tackle pollution. Earlier lakhs of diesel generators used to operate across the city during power outages, and today Delhi enjoys 24-hour electricity supply which helped bring down pollution level. We also came up with a rule to cover construction sites to curb pollution, issued challans to stop polluting vehicles from plying on the city roads", Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Delhi government and other concerned authorities over the deteriorating air quality in the national capital. "The problem lies in implementation and not lack of ideas. There is a complete lack of will to implement the same," it said.

(with inputs from IANS)

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