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

According 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 this. However, once the western disturbance passes, the wind speed will increase from around 5-6 kmph, at present, to around 15 kmph on November 11, which will help disperse pollutants ahead of Diwali, the official said.

New Delhi: In the early hours of Thursday, the air quality in the National Capital was recoded in the 'severe' category. As per the Central Pollution Control Board data, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420 at 8 am today, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. A marginal improvement, which is expected to be in a favourable condition meteorologically ahead of Diwali.

The AQI map the CPCB prepared showed clusters of red dots, which is an indication of the hazardous air quality, spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains. Neighbouring Ghaziabad (369), Gurugram (396), Noida (394), Greater Noida (450), and Faridabad (413) are among the places that joined the severe category list for AQI.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, transport is one of the major factors, contributing 12 to 14 per cent to Delhi's foul air. In 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 18.

The Delhi Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, said the entry of app-based taxis into Delhi has been banned in line with the orders of the Supreme Court. He further added that the odd-even car rationing scheme will be implemented in the city after the Supreme Court reviews its effectiveness. The matter will be next heard on Friday.

On Tuesday, the apex court questioned the effectiveness of the Delhi government's car rationing scheme, aimed at curbing vehicular pollution, and referred to it as "all optics".

Anticipating a further deterioration of air quality post-Diwali, 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 20.

According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi-NCR, the region is likely to experience "very poor" to "severe" air quality for another five to six days.

Doctors say breathing in the polluted air of Delhi is equivalent to the harmful effects of smoking approximately 10 cigarettes a day. Prolonged 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 Hospital.

Delhi's air quality ranks among the worst in the world's capital cities. In August, a report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) said that air pollution is shortening lives by almost 12 years in Delhi.

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