Ten out of 35 monitoring stations in the national capital recorded air quality falling into the ‘severe’ category on Friday, as Delhi’s overall pollution level continued to slide further into the ‘very poor’ category.
Monitoring station officials said this was the worst air quality reading recorded in the city in the past eight months.
At 11am, Delhi’s average hourly air quality index (AQI) reading was 374, in the ‘very poor’ area.
While the overall AQI reading was further downgraded towards the ‘severe’ category, according to 10 of the 35 monitoring stations, contamination levels in certain areas had already crossed the 400 mark. Nine of these stations are located at critical points pollution, where the government will implement intensive pollution control measures.
Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that on Friday, the air in Alipur, Shadipur, Patparganj, Vivek Vihar, Anand Vihar, Jahangirpuri, Rohini, Wazirpur, Bawana and Mundka was in the ‘severe’ zone .
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At 7 a. M., The AQI reading was 360, in the upper end of the “very poor” zone. This is the second time the air quality has hit ‘very poor’ in Delhi this season (after the monsoon). On October 15, the city’s air quality had become ‘very poor’ for the first time with an AQI reading of 312.
The overall AQI reading for the city was 296 on Thursday. Government agencies had predicted that air quality would deteriorate from October 23-24. They said calm wind conditions would prevail, which would not allow pollutants to disperse into the atmosphere.
Steps to deal with ‘very bad’ air quality in the winter phase of the Gradual Response Action Plan (Grap), an annual plan to combat air pollution in Delhi-NCR, such as stopping the use of diesel generators (DG) the sets had already started working since October 15.
Scientists from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said calm wind conditions refer to the wind speed reading being zero.
“This is a common phenomenon from October to November, which is when air quality deteriorates. There is likely to be some improvement around October 26, when the wind speed can increase, ”said a senior scientist at IMD.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday blamed stubble burning in neighboring Haryana and Punjab as the main reason behind the drop in air quality in Delhi.
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