Delhi-NCR: Air quality dips to 'very poor' at many places

A layer of haze lingered over national capital on Sunday as air quality in several parts of city plunged to "very poor" category, days before strict measures to fight air pollution come into force under Gred Response Action Plan (GRAP) .

Air Quality Index (AQI) in Anand Vihar, Wazirpur, Vivek Vihar, Mundka, Bawana, Jahangirpuri was 327, 323, 317, 309, 302 and 300 respectively, according to Central Pollution Control Board data.

overall AQI deteriorated furr and touched 268 mark, which falls in poor category. air quality in neibhouring Ghaziab (320) and ida (310) in Uttar Presh and Haryana's Alipur Khalsa (351) and Panipat (339) also turned "very poor" by 4.30 pm.

Faridab, Greater ida, Baghpat, Murthal recorded an AQI at 290, 233, 280, 259 and 245 respectively.

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An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

Perturbed by situation, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "All gains achieved so far on pollution front will be nullified. Whereas, we need to do a lot in Delhi and we are trying, however, all governments and all ncies need to work to stop crop burning also (sic)."

On October 12, he h said smoke from crop residue burning in neighbouring states has started reaching Delhi and air quality has started deteriorating.

"It has been widely reported that smoke coming to Delhi is due to burning of stubble in Karnal, Haryana," he h said.

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Centre-run System of Air Quality and Wear Forecasting and Research said smoke from stubble burning will make up six per cent of Delhi's pollution by October 15, when GRAP comes into force in Delhi-NCR region.

Prepared by Central Pollution Control Board, GRAP lists various actions to be taken according to severity of pollution.

10-member task force on Gred Response Action Plan h on October 11 held a meeting on stubble burning incidents reported from Punjab and Haryana, and its likely impact on Delhi-NCR's air quality.

V K Soni, a senior scientist at India Meteorological Department, who attended meeting, said winds are calm due to monsoon withdrawal, leing to low dispersion of pollutants.

Also, wind direction has changed to west and rth west, he said.

Westerly and rthwesterly winds bring dust from western regions and smoke caused by burning of crop residue in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana to Delhi-NCR.

Though Haryana has reported a slight decrease in number of stubble burning incidents, Punjab has reported a massive increase of 45 per cent in such cases till October 11, according to data of pollution control boards of two states.

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Despite a ban on stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, farmers continue to defy it amid a lack of financial incentives.

State governments are providing 50 to 80 per cent subsidy to farmers and cooperative societies to buy modern farm equipment for in-situ manment of pdy straw and running a massive awareness campaign against stubble burning.

Starting October 15, stricter measures to fight air pollution will come into force in Delhi and its neighbourhood as part of Gred Response Action Plan, which was first implemented in Delhi-NCR in 2017.

se measures include increasing bus and metro services, hiking parking fees and stopping use of diesel generator sets when air quality turns poor.

When situation turns "severe", GRAP recommends closure of brick kilns, stone crushers and hot mix plants, sprinkling of water, frequent mechanised cleaning of ros and maximising power generation from natural gas.

measures to be followed in "emergency" situation include stopping entry of trucks in Delhi, ban on construction activities and introduction of odd-even car rationing scheme. 

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