Prepare for emergency steps if Delhi’s smog worsens, says Pollution Board of India

A thick haze of toxic fog engulfed India’s capital, which was aggravated by the burning of crop waste in the surrounding fields.

According to the Federal Pollution Control Board, it reduced visibility and the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 470 on a scale of 500. This level of pollution means that the air will affect healthy people and seriously affect people with existing diseases.

As air quality remains “severe” for 48 hours, according to the pollution board’s “Graded Response Action Plan”, states and local bodies should be prompted to implement emergency measures, including closing schools, stopping private cars Includes ‘odd-even’ restrictions. number plate, and stop all construction.

In a circular late Friday, the board said government and private offices should reduce the use of private transport by 30% and advised city residents to limit outdoor exposure.

“The weather conditions will be extremely unfavorable for dispersal of pollutants till November 18, 2021 due to calm night-time winds,” the board said.

Earlier this week, local officials ordered the closure of brick kilns, increased the frequency of mechanized cleaning and cracked down on garbage burning and dusting.

The concentration of toxic PM2.5 particulate matter averages 329 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The government sets a “safe” PM2.5 reading of 60 micrograms per cubic meter of air over a 24-hour period.

PM2.5 is small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream, and cause serious respiratory illnesses, including lung cancer.

“It is becoming a nightmare,” said Gufran Baig, founding project director of air quality and weather monitoring SAFAR, which comes under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

“The number of fires is in the 3,000-5,000 range and is not decreasing,” Baig told Reuters, referring to crop stubble fires in areas around the capital.

India’s efforts to reduce crop-waste burning, a major source of air pollution during winter, by spending billions of rupees over the past four years, have done little to stem the sharp decline in air quality.

Delhi, often ranked as the world’s most polluted capital, suffers extremely bad air in winter due to crop stubble burning, emissions from transportation, coal-fired plants outside the city and other industrial emissions, open waste burning and dust. have to face.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.