Delhi pollution post Diwali: With 368 AQI in 2019, National Capital's air sees major improvement from 2018's AQI of 642

In spite of the air quality in Delhi recording a ‘very poor’ mark after docking at 368 AQI post-Diwali on Monday, the levels were considered to be a major improvement from last year, which recorded a solid 642 on the AQI, a reading which goes beyond the index’s scale. The AQI post-Diwali in 2017 was 367, and in 2016 it was 425. An AQI between 0-50 is considered “good”, 51-100 “satisfactory”, 101-200 “moderate”, 201-300 “poor”, 301-400 “very poor”, and 401-500 “severe”. Above 500 is “severe-plus emergency” category. The overall air quality of Delhi improved on Tuesday morning as well with the levels of the lead pollutant (PM 2.5) dropping down to below 250 ug/m3 though it remained under ‘very poor’ category  as recorded by the Centre-led System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). News agency ANI reported that SAFAR forecasted the levels in the capital are set to marginally improve by Wednesday (30 October) due to high wind speeds, which will help to flush out and disperse the remaining high firecracker emissions. The AQI at Pusa, Lodhi Road, Airport Terminal T3, Noida, Mathura Road, Ayanagar, IIT Delhi, Dhirpur, and Chandni Chowk was recorded at 480, 436, 460, 668, 413, 477, 483, 553 and 466, respectively on Tuesday morning, as reported by the Press Trust of India. The National Air Quality Index, however, showed the overall levels at 345 since it takes into account a 24-hour average. Several steps were taken to curb air pollution post-Diwali. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) earlier in the day had sprinkled water on roads in the Anand Vihar area, to reduce dust as a pollution control measure.

The national capital’s environment minister Kailash Gahlot on Tuesday said that all necessary steps will be taken to bring down these levels if the situation persists after 48 hours. On Sunday and Monday, the overall air quality of Delhi had touched the ‘severe’ category. [caption id=“attachment_5983731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. ANI[/caption] On Sunday, the AQI at 4 pm stood at 337. On Monday**,** the city’s average AQI as recorded by Safar showed levels at 368. Despite these levels, people and organisations lauded the fact that pollution levels had decreased as compared to previous years. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Monday said that the national capital witnessed lesser pollution due to cumulative effects of ground-level actions and introduction of green crackers. The DPCC said that fewer fireworks, rigorous night patrolling and enforcement measures to curb instigators reduced the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels by 30 percent on Diwali night this year as compared to 2018. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the pollution level was lowest in the past five years. “As per today’s pollution records, pollution was the lowest in the last five years. It is a good thing that pollution has decreased. However, our aim is to put an end to Diwali pollution,” ANI quoted Kejriwal as saying. The period between 15 October and 15 November is considered extremely critical for Delhi-NCR’s air quality as stubble burning, firecracker emissions, weather patterns, and pollutants from vehicles all add up to create an extremely toxic cocktail of emissions, thereby leading to major health complications, suffocation and other problems for residents of the national capital. With Delhi’s air quality plummeting to dangerous levels around Diwali every single year, the Supreme Court had banned polluting firecrackers in 2018 and ordered that only green firecrackers, which were said to cause 30 percent less pollution, can be manufactured and sold and enforced a two-hour limit for setting them off. However, despite the ban, revellers  reportedly continued to defy the apex court-set norms in 2019 as well. The green pyrotechnics failed to draw good response both from sellers and buyers, primarily due to lack of variety, limited stock and high prices, reports said. Furthermore, noise pollution levels did not show a drop despite a decline in trends of bursting crackers this Diwali. CPCB said that it recorded an increase in both daytime and nighttime noise-pollution levels  from the 10 monitoring stations that it collected data from. With inputs from PTI.