Delhi’s air quality turned severe on Diwali with stubble burning accounting for 32 percent of the city’s PM2.5 pollution and calm winds made the situation worse by allowing pollutants to build up, meteorological authorities said. .
The city posted an overall AQI of 414 on Saturday, which falls in the severe category. The 24-hour average AQI was 339 on Friday and 314 on Thursday.
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, pollution levels remained in the “severe” category for three days in a row.
This time, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that a new western disturbance is likely to 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. Whether it is enough to remove the pollutants remains to be seen, said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional forecasting center.
VK Soni, director of the 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 wind speed is expected to increase thereafter and the wind direction will be east-southeast, he said.
There will be a significant improvement in air quality by November 16, he added.
The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi also said the situation is likely to improve significantly on Sunday. “Influenced by a western unrest, isolated rains are likely on Sunday over the northwestern plains of India and contiguous central India. The prevailing surface wind is likely to come from the East-Southeast direction of Delhi with wind speeds of up to 20 km / h, ”he said.
“The generally cloudy sky, light rain, showers accompanied by gusts of wind (speed of 30-40 km / h) are likely towards Sunday evening,” said the central agency.
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 headed 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. “In other places, restrictions are optional for the authorities, but if there are stricter measures by order of the authorities, the same will prevail,” the NGT had said.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Wednesday ordered the closure of the hot mix and stone crusher plants in Delhi-NCR until November 17 in view of a likely increase in contamination levels during the season. festive.
He also called on the Punjab and Haryana governments to take immediate strict measures to curb stubble burning and the Delhi-NCR authorities to strictly control biomass burning.
.
