Stubble burning accounted for 32 percent of Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution (Archive)
New Delhi:
Air quality in Delhi and nearby areas became “severe” on Diwali as people defied a ban on lighting firecrackers in various areas, exacerbating pollution caused by burning agricultural waste in neighboring states.
The city posted an Overall Air Quality Index, or AQI, of 414 on Saturday, which falls in the “severe” category. The 24-hour average AQI was 339 on Friday and 314 on Thursday.
Stubble burning accounted for 32 percent of the city’s PM2.5 pollution, weather officials told the PTI news agency, referring to the tiny particles that can be transported to the lungs and causing deadly diseases such as cancer. and heart problems.
Almost all areas of the city had PM2.5 levels above 400 with many regions approaching the 500 mark. Anything above 60 is considered unhealthy. A thick layer of smog enveloped the entire region, reducing visibility.
Calm winds have made the situation worse, allowing pollutants to build up, weather officials said.
The air quality monitor of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, SAFAR, said: “Even a small increase in local additional emissions is likely to have a significant deteriorating impact on Sunday and Monday.”
He said peak levels of PM10 and PM2.5 are expected between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. in case of additional internal emissions.
Delhi posted a 24-hour average AQI of 337 on Diwali last year (Oct 27), and 368 and 400 over the next two days. Thereafter, the contamination levels remained in the “severe” category for three days.
This time, the Indian Meteorological Department has said that a new western disturbance could increase wind speed and improve air quality in Delhi-NCR after Diwali.
Light rain is likely on Sunday under the influence of a western disturbance. It’s not yet clear if it’s enough to remove the pollutants, said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional forecasting center.
VK Soni, director of IMD’s environmental research center, said calm winds, smoke from agricultural fires and firecracker emissions can push air quality into the “severe” zone on Diwali night.
The National Green Court (NGT) had imposed on Monday a total ban on the sale or use of all types of firecrackers in the National Capital Region (NCR) from midnight November 9 to midnight November 30, saying that “the celebration for cookies is for happiness and not for the celebration of deaths and illnesses.”
A bank led by the president of NGT, Judge Adarsh Kumar Goel, clarified that the direction will apply to all cities and towns in the country where the average ambient air quality during November 2019 was “bad” and higher categories.
(With PTI inputs)
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