The air quality of Delhi, Gurugram and Noida deteriorated slightly and was in the ‘poor’ category on Wednesday, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
However, the air quality of Delhi is expected to improve slightly on Thursday, as per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), a government-run monitoring agency.
“The overall air quality index [AQI] has marginally deterioratedtoday [Wednesday]. It is forecast that the air quality may improve by tomorrow [Thursday] to the ‘poor’ category due to cleaner easterly wind intrusion. The AQI will be in the ‘poor’ to lower end of the ‘very poor’ category on Friday and Saturday,” SAFAR said in a statement.
The AQI of Delhi was 256 and the values for Gurugram and Noida were 263 and 264 respectively, as per CPCB’s 4 p.m. bulletin on Wednesday, which is an average of the past 24 hours.
Fire count
The stubble burning fire counts around Haryana, Punjab and neighbouring border regions of Delhi were 849 on Tuesday, said SAFAR. The contribution of stubble burning in neighbouring States to PM2.5, a chief pollutant, in Delhi is estimated to be around 15% on Wednesday and is likely to decrease due to change in wind direction. The local wind speed is only ‘moderate’ and the wind direction in neighbouring States is favourable for a “moderate” transport of pollutants to Delhi due to stubble burning.
In a related development, the Delhi government on Wednesday launched the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign to reduce air pollution.
“I appeal to all the residents of Delhi to join the campaign as part of the war against pollution. Till now, the Delhi government and various agencies were involved in the war. Today, we are reaching out to two crore people of Delhi to participate in this fight,” Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.
