Air quality in the city continued to be in the ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day, precipitated by dense clouds and stalled winds. Schools in the National Capital Region were shut, and government orders banning use of hot-mix plants and stone-crushers in Delhi-NCR continued to remain in force.
Meteorological agencies said that the overall air quality index in the city was at the “higher end of the severe category”.
There appeared to be reduction in instances of stubble burning in Punjab, said SAFAR, a forecasting agency.
“It may be noted here that due to stagnation and very low mixing height, flushing [of pollutants] is almost insignificant and considering the life time of PM 2.5, sustainable cumulative impact of stubble intrusion on November 14 is estimated to be more than 30%,” the SAFAR analysis noted.
The cloudy skies are further expected to block the sun on Friday and this will lead to “a further deterioration in air quality,” said SAFAR, “ However, an increase in wind speed is forecast by November 16 which is likely to increase ventilation and improve the air quality to ‘very poor’ category. Further improvement is expected by November 17.”
Friday will be the last day of the odd-even scheme in Delhi that is in force since November 4.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that if Delhi’s air continued to be bad, he would not hesitate to extend the scheme beyond Friday. Delhi alone did not suffer toxic air with surrounding cities like Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gurugram having registered ‘severe’ air quality, according to the evening report of the Central Pollution Control Board.
