The city recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 259 on Sunday as the ambient air quality continued to remain in ‘poor’ category. It was the lowest AQI recorded in Delhi a day before Deepavali in the last seven years, data available with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed.
However, SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, has predicted the air quality to turn ‘very poor’ on Monday and ‘severe’ on Tuesday considering emissions from firecrackers and an increase in the share of smoke from stubble burning.
Meanwhile, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai, on Sunday, said his government’s priority is to save human lives and it is not interested in politics over firecrackers.
His statement came in the backdrop of an attack by Gujarat BJP chief C.R. Paatil at the Delhi government a day earlier. Addressing a rally in Gujarat on Saturday, Mr. Paatil hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his government’s decision to ban firecrackers in the national capital, saying “such people” were “anti-religious”.
A petition by BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, seeking an urgent hearing of a plea challenging the blanket ban on firecrackers in Delhi, was turned down by Supreme Court on Thursday.
“Some people even moved the Supreme Court over the issue. There is no scope for debate after the apex court’s decision in the matter,” said Mr. Rai.
On Wednesday, the Environment Minister had announced a jail term of up to six months and a fine of ₹200 on those bursting crackers.
Air quality forecast
“For the next three days, peak surface wind speed is likely to be ‘calm to 5-10 km/h’ causing weak dispersion [of air pollutants] and AQI is likely to be ‘very poor’ on Monday (Deepavali daytime). It is likely to worsen to ‘lower end of severe’ on Deepavali night and the following day,” read the forecast by SAFAR. It added that fire counts/emissions over the north-west region are gradually increasing and their impact on Delhi’s air quality is likely to increase (to 5%) due to favourable transport level wind flow.
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”. Last year, the AQI a day before Deepavali was 314. It rose to 382 on Deepavali and further to 462 the next morning.
(With PTI inputs)
