Delhi Pollution in ‘Very Poor’ Zone, Smoke from farm fire may be ‘Severe’

Delhi pollution recorded its air quality in the ‘very poor’ category on the morning of October 30, 2022 and forecasters said slow wind speeds and an increase in stubble burning, especially in Punjab, could push it into the ‘severe’ zone.

With pollution levels worsening, the Centre’s air quality panel on October 29, 2022 directed authorities to impose a ban on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR, except in essential projects, and other curbs under stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan.

Delhi’s overall air quality index (AQI) stood at 367 at 9 am. The 24-hour average AQI on Saturday was 397, the worst since January. It was 354 on Thursday, 271 on Wednesday, 302 on Tuesday and 312 on Monday (Diwali).

Anand Vihar (AQI 468) was the most polluted place in the capital. Wazirpur (412), Vivek Vihar (423) and Jahangirpuri (407) were among the monitoring stations that recorded “severe” air quality.

V K Soni, head of the India Meteorological Department’s Environment Monitoring and Research Centre, said a layer of smog lingered over the Delhi-NCR on Saturday amid adverse meteorological conditions and it is likely to persist for two more days. Some respite is likely from Tuesday.

SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said that the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution rose to 21% on Saturday, the highest this year so far.

It may increase up to 40% on Sunday and push the air quality into the severe zone, Gufran Beig, the founder project director of SAFAR said.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will chair a high-level meeting on Sunday to discuss measures to be implemented under stage III of GRAP.

GRAP is a set of anti-air pollution measures followed in the capital and its vicinity according to the severity of the situation.

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News from PTI.