Delhi Fire Services begins sprinkling water in city's 13 pollution hotspots

The Delhi Fire Services on Saturday began sprinkling water in 13 pollution hotspots in the city to check the spread of pollutants like dust, a top official said. The exercise was initiated following orders from the Delhi government, he said. The 13 pollution hotspots in Delhi, identified by the Central Pollution Control Board, are Rohini, Dwarka, Okhla Phase II, Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, Bawana, Narela, Mundka and Mayapuri.

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A total of 20 fire tenders have been pressed into service and more will be deployed after an analysis of fire calls, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said. Delhi has been grappling with hazardous levels of pollution since late October, with the air quality dipping to "severe" category a few times. The city saw a marginal improvement in the air quality on Saturday morning due to a slight increase in wind speed. The overall air quality index (AQI) in the city was 340 at 9 am, a slight improvement from 360 on Friday. Most of the air quality monitoring stations in Delhi recorded AQI in the "very poor" category on Saturday. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered "poor", 301-400 "very poor" and 401-500 "severe". 

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