New Delhi:
Delhi’s skies filled with smoke on the night of Diwali and its air quality reached the “severe” category as people burst crackers in blatant defiance of the government’s ban against it, amid a rise in contributions from farm fires. was imposed.
People in many parts of the city and its suburbs complained of itchy throats and watery eyes as a layer of haze enveloped the environment for the first season of the season.
Despite the complete ban in the national capital till January 1, 2022, residents of Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi, Burari in North Delhi, Paschim Vihar in West Delhi and Shahdara in East Delhi reported incidents of bursting of crackers till 7 pm.
Several incidents of bursting of high intensity crackers have been reported from Gurugram and Faridabad.
The Haryana government on Sunday banned the sale or use of all types of firecrackers in 14 of its districts in the National Capital Region, while the ban was imposed in other parts.
Experts have predicted that air quality could fall into the severe category by midnight due to adverse meteorological conditions – calm winds, low temperatures and low mixing altitude – and a toxic cocktail of firecrackers, stubble burning and emissions from local sources.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the “first string of fog” in the capital reduced visibility at Indira Gandhi International Airport and Safdarjung Airport to 600-800 meters in the morning.
“Due to calm wind conditions, the fog remained in the poor range of 800-900 meters throughout the day,” IMD senior scientist RK Jenamani said.
The first episode of haze coincided with the share of farm fires in Delhi’s pollution reaching a season’s high of 25 per cent.
“PM2.5 pollution in the national capital may enter the ‘severe’ zone by midnight, even though only 50 per cent of firecrackers have been emitted compared to last year,” said Gufran Baig, Founder-Project Director, SAFAR.
He said that by Friday morning, PM2.5 pollution will increase rapidly and the AQI will cross 500.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average PM2.5 concentration in Delhi-NCR was 243 micrograms per cubic meter at 6 pm, which is four times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of the capital was 382 on Thursday, as against 314 on Wednesday. It was 303 on Tuesday and 281 on Monday.
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”. goes. and 401 and 500 “severe”.
“Extremely calm wind conditions in Delhi and 25 per cent stubble (fire count 2,293) are the two major factors today,” SAFAR said.
According to the forecasts of the SAFAR model, the share of stubble burning may increase to 35 per cent on Friday and 40 per cent on Saturday as the wind direction is changing to the northwest.
Northwesterly winds carry smoke from farm fires in Punjab and Haryana towards the national capital.
“Relief is expected from the evening of November 7, but the AQI will fluctuate within the ‘very poor’ category,” the Air Quality Forecasting Agency said.
Last year, the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution reached 42 per cent on November 5. In 2019, burning of crop residues accounted for 44 per cent of Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution as on November 1.
The contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 concentration was 32 per cent on Diwali last year, compared to 19 per cent in 2019.
On 27 October, the Delhi government had launched a campaign “Jalao firecrackers nahi diye” to create awareness against bursting of firecrackers.
Action can be taken under the relevant IPC provisions and the Explosives Act if anyone found burning firecrackers as part of the campaign.
According to the government, more than 13,000 kg of illegal firecrackers have been seized and 33 people arrested so far as part of the anti-cracker campaign.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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