Delhi air pollution: India's national capital air quality in ‘poor’ category for third day in row
Delhi Air Quality Index: As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)-India, the overall air quality in Delhi continues to remain in the 'Poor' category for the third straight day on Saturday morning with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 286.
After being in the 'moderate' category with an AQI of 190 on Wednesday, the city's AQI has been in the 'poor' category since then with 256 on Thursday and 249 on Friday.
Delhi University area – 316 (very poor)
Pusa – 201 (poor)
IIT Delhi – 276 (poor)
Airport (T3) – 293 (very poor)
Mathura Road - 165 (moderate)
Noida - 255 (poor)
Gurugram 200 (moderate)
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that a 15-point winter action plan is being implemented one by one to curb the pollution.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier announced a 15-point winter action plan to curb the pollution caused by vehicles, biomass burning, dust, etc. Now this winter action plan is being implemented on the ground one by one to reduce the pollution in the national capital.
Since the pollution in national capital is increasing with the each passing day, Delhi government also started the 'Red Light on, Gaadi off' campaign
The data says that in AQI the level of Particulate matter (PM) 10 is decreasing and that of PM2.5 is increasing. This means that pollution caused by vehicles and biomass burning is increasing. For this, the 'Red Light on, Gaadi off' campaign has been started.
This campaign started from the Income Tax Office (ITO) on Thursday. It will be conducted at Barakhamba Road and other locations in the city. On November 2, this campaign will be held in 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi. On November 3, the campaign will be promoted in schools via eco clubs.
Through this campaign, Delhi government is trying to control the unnecessary burning of fuel and the spreading of pollution in the national capital.
Air Quality Index (AQI) is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature, and colour.
0 and 50 are considered "good”,
51 and 100 are "satisfactory",
101 and 200 are "moderate",
201 and 300 are "poor",
301 and 400 are "very poor",
401 and 450 are "severe"
450 considered as "severe "
Notably, the Delhi government has identified eight new pollution hotspots in the city, including Shadipur, ITO, Mandir Marg, Nehru Nagar, Patparganj, Sonia Vihar, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, and Moti Bagh. Action plans will be devised for these areas, and special teams will be deployed to monitor pollution sources. Currently, there are a total of 21 pollution hotspots in the national capital.
- With inputs from agencies
