NEW DELHI: Delhi's air quality again deteriorated slightly on Monday though remaining in the 'very poor' category. A forecast of slowing down of local surface winds from Wednesday onwards may again lead to a spike in the pollution levels over the next three days, warned government agencies.
As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi's overall AQI on Monday was 353 in the 'very poor' zone, slightly up from 330 the previous day. Delhi's air has mostly been in the 'severe' zone since Diwali day (November 5) and even breached the emergency mark on November 12 when the AQI soared to 471 - the highest spike of the season so far.
The high pollution levels on Saturday prompted the apex court to step in and suggest a two day lockdown in Delhi.
Hours later the Delhi government announced several emergency measures including shutting down of schools, banning construction till November 17 and government offices to shift to work from home mode except those providing essential services.
According to officials in the India Meteorological Department (IMD), local surface winds are again expected to slow down from November 17 or 18, which will not be favourable for dispersion of pollutants accumulated in the air.
"The slowing down of surface winds is likely to result in calm winds, which further traps pollutants. Besides, a further drop in minimum temperature to around 9 degrees Celsius combined with shallow fog on Wednesday may result in stagnant weather conditions and hence lead to a spike in pollution levels in Delhi-NCR," said a senior IMD scientist.
Senior IMD scientist RK Jenamani said that the visibility was low at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) and the Safdarjung airports, as compared to Sunday. Pawan Gupta, a research scientist at the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR), Universities Space Research Association (USRA) on Wednesday said that the stubble burning numbers in Punjab have almost touched the same as recorded last year.
In 2020, owing to the pandemic, Punjab had reported the highest farm fire counts since 2016. Besides the union ministry’s System for Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality is unlikely to improve over the next three days.
