Delhi's air quality severe; slight relief likely ahead of Diwali

The air quality in Delhi was recorded in the severe category on Thursday morning with a marginal improvement expected just ahead of Diwali as meteorological conditions are likely to become slightly favourableThe citys Air Quality Index AQI stood at 420 at 8 am on Thursday compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots indicating hazardous air quality spread across the IndoGangetic plainsNeighbouring Ghaziabad 369 Gurugram 396 Noida 394 Greater Noida 450 and Faridabad 413 also reported very bad air qualityAccording to officials at the India Meteorological Department a change in wind direction from northwest to southeast due to a fresh western disturbance affecting northwest India will help reduce the contribution of smoke from stubble burning but slow wind speed will counteract thisHowever once the western disturbance passes the wind speed will increase from around 56 kmph at present to around 15 kmph on November 11 which will help disperse pollutants ahead of Diwali the official saidAccording to data from the Decision Support System a numerical modelbased framework capable of identifying sources of particulate matter pollution in Delhi stubble burning in neighbouring states particularly Punjab and Haryana accounted for 38 per cent of the air pollution in Delhi on Wednesday It is likely to be 27 per cent on Thursday and 12 per cent on FridayThe data also shows that transport is another major factor contributing 12 to 14 per cent to Delhis foul airIn view of the worsening air pollution the Delhi government on Wednesday rescheduled the December winter break of all schools which will now be from November 9 to November 18Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the entry of appbased taxis into Delhi has been banned according to orders of the Supreme CourtHe also said the oddeven car rationing scheme will be implemented in the national capital after the Supreme Court reviews its effectiveness and issues an order The matter will be next heard on FridayOn Tuesday the apex court questioned the effectiveness of the Delhi governments car rationing scheme aimed at curbing vehicular pollution and referred to it as all opticsAnticipating further deterioration of air quality postDiwali Rai had on Monday announced that the flagship scheme which permits cars to operate on alternate days based on the odd or even last digit of their registration numbers would be enforced between November 13 and November 20According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences Air Quality Early Warning System for DelhiNCR the region is likely to experience very poor to severe air quality for another five to six daysDoctors say breathing in the polluted air of Delhi is equivalent to the harmful effects of smoking approximately 10 cigarettes a dayProlonged exposure to high levels of pollution can cause or exacerbate respiratory problems such as asthma bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD and dramatically raise the risk of cardiovascular disease said Rajesh Chawla senior consultant in pulmonology and critical care at the Indraprastha Apollo HospitalStringent restrictions mandated under the final stage of the central governments air pollution control plan for DelhiNCR Graded Response Action Plan GRAP have also been implemented in the national capitalThe restrictions under Stage IV of GRAP including a ban on all kinds of construction work and the entry of polluting trucks into Delhi took effect on Sunday after the air quality in the city dropped to severe plus AQI above 450 levelsGRAP categorises actions into four stages Stage I Poor AQI 201300 Stage II Very Poor AQI 301400 Stage III Severe AQI 401450 and Stage IV Severe Plus AQI above 450Unfavourable meteorological conditions combined with vehicular emissions paddy straw burning firecrackers and other local pollution sources contribute to hazardous air quality levels in DelhiNCR during the winter every yearAccording to a Delhi Pollution Control Committee analysis the capital experiences peak pollution from November 1 to November 15 when the number of stubble burning incidents in Punjab and Haryana increasesThe air quality in DelhiNCR declined over the last two weeks due to a gradual drop in temperatures calm winds that trap pollution and a surge in paddy straw burning across Punjab and HaryanaDelhis air quality ranks among the worst in the worlds capital citiesA report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago EPIC in August said that air pollution is shortening lives by almost 12 years in DelhiThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever