Delhi air quality severe but relief not far

The prediction for Friday on this score isn’t much better, as the overall AQI is likely to be around 445.
New Delhi A tourist wears an anti-pollution mask amid heavy smog as the air quality further dips to 'severe' category. (Photo | PTI)
New Delhi A tourist wears an anti-pollution mask amid heavy smog as the air quality further dips to 'severe' category. (Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI: The elements did little to help the city air shed its toxic taint as a thick blanket of smog continued to shroud the national capital on Thursday.

There was no respite from the toxic air, blamed majorly on smoke from crop stubble fire in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana, filling the city’s lungs, as the Air Quality Index (AQI) deteriorated to the ‘severe plus emergency’ category across NCR and remained in the ‘red’ zone in the national capital.

Later in the evening, the AQI counts of Dwarka Sector 8 and Nehru Nagar rose to 499 and 497 respectively.

The air quality in the national capital has been lurching between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ over the last few days. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)
The air quality in the national capital has been lurching between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ over the last few days. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), under the Union ministry of earth sciences, the overall AQI in the city was in the ‘severe plus’ category, at 482. The prediction for Friday on this score isn’t much better, as the overall AQI is likely to be around 445.

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The PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels, a measure of the concentration of harmful particulate matter in the air, was at 504 micrograms and 332 micrograms respectively.

Barring a brief respite in between, largely on account of light rainfall, the air quality has been lurching between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ levels over the last two weeks, forcing the government to order closure of schools twice during this period. The schools, across Delhi-NCR, will remain shut till Friday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also hinted at extending the ‘Odd-Even’ vehicle rationing plan, which is currently in force to rein in vehicular emissions.

According to the Centre’s air quality monitoring system, SAFAR, the sobering effect of a cyclonic circulation, currently stationed over Afghanistan and its neighbourhood, will be felt in northwest India by November 15, increasing wind speeds and improving air quality.

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