The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, on Monday, wrote to the Centre requesting it to allow sprinkling of water from choppers to settle dust, a major source of air pollution in the National Capital.
The AAP government said that it was ready to bear the expenses that would entail any such exercise using its air ambience fund, a corpus created out of 25 paisa cess on every litre of diesel sold in the city.
“In view of the continuous poor quality air in Delhi, it is requested that your good office may kindly propose to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to carry out an exercise to sprinkle water aerially through helicopter/aircraft to settle particulate matter in Delhi,” Imran Hussain wrote in the letter to Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
Last October, the State government had announced a plan to put in place three-tier air treatment system, including setting-up of air purification units, mist fountains and virtual chimneys at five major traffic intersections on a trial basis.
But these proposals have not seen much progress in terms of implementation since last winter.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Monday recorded an air quality index (AQI) of ‘very poor’ with the average air quality index settling at 306, as against Sunday’s 319.
Mr. Hussain held a review meeting with officials of the environment department and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), where he was informed that the air quality this year was “relatively better than 2016”.
This trend can be attributed to improved wind conditions post Diwali, the government said in a statement.
Road dust
An IIT-Kanpur study on the city’s air pollution, considered the most comprehensive report on the issue till date, had identified road dust as the biggest source of suspended particulate matter in the city.
According to the report, road dust makes up over 50% of the total PM10 particles and about 38% of PM2.5 particles. PM2.5 and PM10 are the most dominant pollutants in the air.
These ultra fine particulates pose serious health risks.
