More Stringent Anti-Pollution Measures Are Anticipated As Delhi’s Air Quality Deteriorates
The Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) for enhanced anti-pollution curbs has been invoked in response to worsening air quality, which tipped into the severe category for the first time this season on Thursday. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has called a meeting for 1:30 p.m. on Friday to discuss this matter.
At 11 a.m., Delhi’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) was 475, which was lower than when it peaked in 2022 (471) and the previous year (450). It was 477 in 2020 and 494 in 2019. The AQI for two stations, Mundka and Punjabi Bagh, was 499.
The swift decline in atmospheric conditions and fog caused visibility to drop to 500 meters at Palam and 600 meters in Safdarjung.
On Thursday, the pollution levels increased after Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI of 392 at 4 p.m. fell just short of the severe threshold. The AQI average shot up to 427 shortly before midnight.
Upon reaching the 450 threshold, the AQI triggers Grap Stage 4. Its measures include a prohibition on trucks entering Delhi and on construction work being done on roads and highways, among other things.
The use of older automobiles is prohibited as part of Grap’s Stage 3 measures. When the AQI is expected to enter the severe category, they are meant to activate. The government came under fire for responding to the pollution wave instead of preventing it.
Restrictions on BS-III gasoline and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Buddha Nagar have been mandated by CAQM for Delhi and its neighboring states. However, until late on Thursday, no notifications requesting enforcement had been sent out.
Additionally, schools for pupils in Classes 5 and below were closed for two days on Friday and Saturday due to the increasing pollution levels.
With an AQI of 402 (severe) around 4pm on Thursday, Greater Noida has the poorest air quality in the entire National Capital Region (NCR). With scores of 297 and 286, the AQIs of Gurugram and Ghaziabad fell into the low category.
Before calm surface-level winds compounded the effects of regional sources of pollution, Delhi’s AQI on Wednesday was 362 (extremely poor). Pollutants in Delhi contributed significantly to the city’s poor air quality, even as field fires in Punjab and Haryana kept getting worse and raising PM2.5 levels.
The Capital was experiencing a northwesterly current on Thursday, which transports smoke from agricultural fires from Punjab and Haryana—which on Wednesday reported 1,543 farm fires—into Delhi. There were 1,556 farm fires reported in the two states on Tuesday. A week ago, satellites had tracked 827 fires; now, there were almost twice as many. On November 1st of last year, 2,477 fires were reported in 2021, 3,500 in 2020, and 1,978 in the two states. The data of stubble fires varies from year to year because of variations in harvesting and cropping practices.
The main air pollutant in Delhi on Thursday was PM2.5, a result of combustion sources. At 10pm, Delhi’s PM2.5 levels reached their peak of 242.7µg/m³. At 10 p.m., the PM10 reached its peak of 412 µg/m³. India’s safe limits for PM2.5 and PM10 were exceeded by more than four times. India has laxer pollution regulations than those throughout the world. The safe threshold for PM2.5 in India is 60µg/m³. At 15 µg/m³, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standard is one-fourth of that.
Given that farm fires were still far from at their worst, the air quality was only going to get worse. Additionally, the forecast called for even lower temperatures in the days leading up to Diwali.
