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The “severe” category of air pollution “seriously affects” people with existing illnesses. | Photo credit: RV MOORTHY
The air quality in the capital deteriorated to “severe” level on Monday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) rose to 410 from 353 on Sunday, the Central Pollution Control Board said in a 4 pm report.
The “severe” category of air pollution “affects healthy people” and “seriously affects people with existing illnesses,” the CPC said.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the city’s air quality is expected to improve slightly and enter the “very poor” category. An AQI of 301-400 is considered “very poor” and 401-500 is considered “severe”. A higher AQI indicates increased air pollution.
“Air quality may improve but remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Tuesday and Wednesday. Air quality is expected to remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Thursday,” Delhi central government’s Air Quality Alert System said.
Smoke tower
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramveer Singh Bidhuri said in relation to the Delhi government on the issue that the city government has not taken any “concrete steps” to control air pollution.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief asked Lt. Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena to intervene in the matter and call an all-party meeting.
Also, the government’s “failure” to improve the city’s public transportation system has aggravated air pollution and forced people to buy private vehicles, according to the National People’s Congress.
“The Aam Aadmi Party has promised 15,000 buses on the roads of Delhi. But Delhi Transport Corporation has only 3,760 buses left in its fleet, most of which have reached the end of their useful lives,” Mr. Bidhuri said at a press conference here.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said the AAP government had promised to build 10 smog towers in the city. But only one such tower has been installed and that too is not working, he added.
“The government spent 22.91 million pounds on the smoke tower. Maintenance costs for just three months of March, April and May this year were £2.58 million. Despite spending this much money, the tower is not working,” said Mr. Khurana.
The AAP government did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Climatic factors
According to data shared by SAFAR (System for Air Quality, Weather Forecasting and Research), the government’s central monitoring agency, stubble burning in Delhi’s neighboring states had little impact on PM2.5 levels in the city on Monday. PM2.5 is a fine respirable particle that enters the bloodstream through the lungs and causes many respiratory diseases.
The contribution of neighboring countries to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels in winter varies from 0 to 35 to 40%, depending on the number of farm fires, wind speed and direction, and other factors, according to SAFAR.
Experts attributed the increase in the city’s AQI to climatic factors.
“Cold temperature and increased relative humidity are causing radiation fog. This tends to increase pollution levels as the particles are suspended in the atmosphere along with water molecules. Additionally, the height of the mixing layer is significantly lower, limiting the vertical dispersion of pollutants and increasing pollution,” said Gufran Beig, co-founder of the SAFAR project.
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