As colder winds swept through the National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi witnessed a dip in temperature on Saturday with a recorded minimum of 15.3 degrees Celsius at 8.30 am, marking a drop of nearly 0.3 degrees in just 24 hours, the Air Quality Index (AQI) remained in the severe category for the fourth consecutive days. A dense layer of smog continued to envelop the national capital, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and other areas of NCR.
An average AQI stood at 417, in the ‘severe’ category on Saturday. Sainik Farm was the work affected area, where the AQI stood at 458. Meanwhile, Delhi Traffic Police has issued around 550 challans, imposing a total fine of over Rs one Crore, to BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles on Friday on the first day of the ban on these vehicles under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) III.
A senior police officer said that they have issued a total of 293 challans for BS-III and BS-IV vehicles in the Eastern, Central and Northern ranges of the city. A total of 2,404 challans have been issued for not having Pollution Under Control (PUCC) certificates. While the New Delhi range has issued 63 such challans, the Western range issued 73 and the southern range issued 121 challans, the officials said.
The New Delhi, southern, and western ranges have also issued 322, 894, and 1,235 challans respectively for not having PUCC, they said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Rajiv Kumar Rawal said that they checked around 3,000 vehicles in the three ranges of the traffic police on Friday.
A fine of Rs 10,000 is imposed on motorists for not having a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate. These challans get released from courts. Private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles were banned from roads with violations inviting a penalty of Rs 20,000. Diesel and petrol inter-state buses from the NCR cities to Delhi are also banned.
According to IQ Air, PM2.5 concentration is currently 40.8 times the World Health Organization annual PM2.5 guideline value. The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi’s Shadipur was recorded at 457 (‘severe plus’) at 9am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The stations that recorded above 400 AQI were: Alipur (435), Anand Vihar (436), Bawana (438), Burari Crossing (424), CRRI Mathura Road (424), Dwarka Sector 8 (415), IBHAS Dilshad Garden (408), Jahangirpuri (445), Major Dhyan Chand NAtional Stadium (413), Mandir Marg (411), Mundka (423), Narela (449), Nehru Nagar (424), North Campus DU (436), Patparganj (427), Punjab Bagh (425), Pusa IMD (400), RK Puram (401), Rohini (426), Shadipur (454), Sonia Vihar (420), Vivek Vihar (436), and Wazirpur (441).
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorological (IITM), mainly smog conditions with predominant surface wind from west/northwest direction with wind speed reaching 10 to 16 kmph prevailed during the past 24hr.
Shallow fog reported at Palam airport. Palam airport recorded lowest visibility 500 m during 0700 to 0800 hours IST which improved thereafter becoming 700m at 0830 hours IST. Safdarjung airport recorded lowest visibility 300m during 0730 hours to 0830 IST which improved thereafter becoming 400m at 0900 hours IST.
“The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from northwest directions in Delhi with wind speed 06-12 kmph. The predicted maximum mixing depth of wind speed is likely to be 2000 m. The ventilation index lower than 6000 m2/s with average wind speed less than 10 kmph is unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi pointed out that the transport sector is the most significant contributor at 12.444 per cent. While the residential sector contribution is 3. 123 per cent, industries contributed 2.565 per cent, construction 2. 156 per cent, energy sector 1.017 per cent, waste burning 1.171 per cent, and road dust 0.945 per cent.
The Delhi government has formed 84 teams from the Transport Department, and 280 teams from the Traffic Police have been deployed to enforce the ban. After conducting a surprise inspection at the Kashmere Gate Inter-State Bus Terminal, Environment Minister Gopal Rai claimed that BS-IV buses from neighbouring states continue to arrive despite the ban.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) held a review meeting on the implementation of the GRAP III, on Saturday and directed all stakeholders that the non-compliance of dust control measures by Construction & Demolition sites resulting into possible adverse impact on air quality in NCR must be dealt with strongly and all actions for levying Environmental Compensation (EC) and closure should be taken against such units till full compliance is achieved.
“Further, inspection for C&D sites must be intensified and actions for non-compliance are also required to be taken with a uniform approach. It was also highlighted that with the invocation of Stage-III of GRAP, it is imperative that the numbers of Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRSMs)are augmented without further delay,” it said. The Commission has also directed to intensify the challan for non-possession of PUC and impounding End-of-Life (EoL) vehicles by traffic police and transport departments of NCR states considering their huge potential to deteriorate air quality further.
Officials of concerned agencies shall be held accountable for any laxity in the enforcement of the Commission’s directions and the same may attract action under provisions of CAQM act.
