Air quality further dips in Delhi

Delhi’s air quality further deteriorated on Thursday morning with the rise of pollutants in the atmosphere in the national capital.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) on Thursday morning was recorded 366 in Delhi’s ITO, 309 in RK Puram, 313 in Anand Vihar, and 339 in Wazirpur. All of the above areas were marked categorised as “very poor” areas, according to the data provided by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

An AQI between 0 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’.

On Wednesday, Delhi’s air quality was recorded in the “poor” category even as pollution levels decreased slightly.

The Delhi government has launched a massive campaign to fight air pollution in the national capital. The drive is being led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Environment Minister Gopal Rai.

Among various measures to curb air pollution, the Delhi government has banned the use of electricity generators starting today (October 15).

To curb the decline of air quality in the capital, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on Wednesday issued directions to ban the use of diesel generators in the city under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The direction comes at a time when the air quality in Delhi-NCR has been dipping due to the arrival of the winter and stubble burning by farmers in the neighbouring states – Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, etc.

As Delhi braces for months of poor air quality, experts have claimed that increased levels of air pollution can further worsen the coronavirus situation in the national capital.