Delhi went into a haze on Friday as the air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 460 at 7 am, and neared 500 in several parts of the city.
The worsening air quality has triggered measures from the authorities, as any AQI above 400 is considered in the ‘severe’ category. The Delhi government on Thursday declared that all government and private primary schools would remain closed for two days. The authorities have also called for an emergency meeting today at 12 pm to discuss further measures to be imposed in view of the worsening situation.
An AQI between zero 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’.
Delhi’s AQI plunged to 460 on Friday, the worst so far this year. It was recorded at 422 at 10 pm on Thursday, and has been gradually worsening over the past few days. The 24-hour average AQI was 364 on Wednesday, 359 on Tuesday, 347 on Monday, 325 on Sunday, 304 on Saturday, and 261 on Friday.
Taking to social media, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said all government and private primary schools in the city will remain closed for the next two days in view of rising pollution levels. “In light of the rising pollution levels, all govt and private primary schools in Delhi will remain closed for the next 2 days,” his post on X read.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has called for a meeting on Friday to discuss the measures to be taken in view of the worsening situation. The meeting will discuss the implementation of stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan.
After the meeting, Gopal Rai will hold a press conference at 1 pm at Delhi Secretariat. More guidelines will be issued in the regard, he said.
Centre’s pollution control panel has also ordered an immediate ban on non-essential construction work, stone crushing and mining in the region in view of the worsening situation.
The worsening air quality also prompted restrictions on plying of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
On Thursday, the concentration of PM2.5 in Delhi crossed the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre by a seven to eightfold at multiple locations throughout the Delhi-NCR region.
Pm 2.5 is the fine particulate matter that can penetrate deep into the respiratory system and trigger health problems even for healthy people.
Several areas in Delhi reported AQIs dangerously close to 500 on Friday. These areas included Rohini (491), Mundka (498), Bawana (496), Punjabi Bagh (493), Wazirpur (491), Ashok Vihar (440), Alipur (442), Vivek Vihar (458), RK Puram (488), Shadipur (448), Major Dhyan Chand Stadium (481), and Nehru Nagar (461).
The sudden plunge in the air quality has been attributed to the increased incidents of stubble burning in the region. According to a numerical model-based system developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, smoke from stubble burning accounted for 25 per cent of the PM2.5 pollution in Delhi on Thursday, and was predicted to soar to 35 per cent on Friday.
Regions of the Delhi NCR also recorded high AQI on Thursday. The AQI in Gurugram was at 297 in the ‘Poor’ category at 4 pm on Thursday, it was at 402 in Greater Noida in the ‘Severe’ category and at 351 in Noida in ‘Very Poor’ category. Several cities in neighbouring Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh also reported hazardous air.
The Centre has already activated Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), the Centre’s air pollution control plan which is implemented in the region during the winter season. GRAP categorises actions into four stages: Stage I – ‘poor’ (AQI 201-300); Stage II – ‘very poor’ (AQI 301-400); Stage III – ‘severe’ (AQI 401-450); and Stage IV – ‘severe plus’ (AQI above 450).