NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality deteriorated further within very poor levels Wednesday, inching closer to the severe category. Local emission sources contributed 31% and external sources 69% to overall air pollution in the city, with the contribution of stubble burning spiking to 16.2% against 8.2% Tuesday.The air quality index (AQI), on a scale of 0 to 500, was 377 against 350 a day earlier at 4pm. The pollution monitoring agencies are anticipating the pollution levels to spike further to severe by Friday.According to IITM’s forecast, the share of pollution from stubble burning in neighbouring states has drastically increased, with Decision Support System’s models predicting the share to rise to 20% by Friday, more than the share of vehicular pollution, which so far had dominated the city’s emission inventory.Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Wednesday issued show-cause notices over stubble burning to the district commissioners and the SSPs of five districts in Punjab – Barnala, Bathinda, Fazilka, Jalandhar and Faridkot. Officials of Gurdaspur and Kapurthala districts received notices Tuesday.The air quality is likely to be in the very poor category Thursday and in the severe category for around six days from Friday, stated Air Quality Early Warning System by IITM.
NCR’s best and worst
Despite the GRAP-II restrictions put in place by CAQM Monday and several restrictions already being implemented by Delhi govt since Nov 1 under its new winter pollution framework, AQI in many city areas has already turned severe.Under Delhi govt’s new anti-pollution framework, private construction has been banned from Nov 1 to Jan 31, with a blanket ban between Dec 10 and Jan 20. It has also banned the entry of non-Delhi-registered BS-IV or below vehicles under GRAP-II.Among the areas that slipped into severe levels were IIT Delhi with an AQI of 455, Jahangirpuri 449, Punjabi Bagh 446, Mundka 439, Vivek Vihar 436, DTU 434, Rohini 432, Narela and Alipur 429, Sonia Vihar 427, Pusa 426, RK Puram 424, Bawana 417, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, Siri Fort, North Campus and Patparganj 412, and ITO 411.“While transport remains the top local polluter, the spike has been intensified by regional farm fires surging during the last few days, pushing stubble smoke’s contribution to over 8 to 11%. Trapped local emissions and weather stagnation drive this crisis, with farm fires acting as a serious add-on,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of CSE.The city saw a hazy and partly cloudy sky Wednesday, with the Met department expecting shallow fog and mist Thursday morning. The maximum temperature at base station Safdarjung was 29.8 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, against 29.1 degrees Celsius a day earlier.The minimum temperature was 16.1 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal, against 16.4 a day earlier.Maximum and minimum temperatures are to hover between 27-29 and 14-17 degrees Celsius Thursday.
