Air quality in Delhi has deteriorated further with 'severe plus' with Air Quality Index (AQI) recording 708 Micro cubic per gram in Narela area of Outer Delhi whereas overall AQI of entire Delhi region stood at 425 at National Air Quality Index (NAAQI) on Thursday.
With higher values of pollutants on AQI, Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev reviewed the situation while Environment Protection Control Authority (EPCA) has issued fresh guideline to combat with air pollution.
Dev directed all agencies that all hotspots be covered and measures to control dust, Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste, generators, burning of waste be strictly enforced. "Heavy penalties be imposed on polluters under polluter pays principle whether they are private people or government agencies, Criminal prosecution of violators also be intensified and 24 hrs checking teams should continue doing surveillance," said the officer.
This was third consecutive day when AQI shoot-up severe plus category in different locations - Satyawati collage, Wazirpur, Pusa road were worst with AQI 683, 512 and 583 respectively.
According to SAFAR, the effective stubble fire counts of North West India (Haryana and Punjab) have increased from the previous day count of 1057 to 2396, as evident from SAFAR-multi-satellite fire product. "The calm surface wind condition that prevails last two days over Delhi has led to strong surface nocturnal inversion and accumulation of pollutants," it said.
Forecasting air quality, SAFAR said that AQI slightly improved but will slip in poor to severe category for Friday. "The transport-level wind direction is forecasted to be northwesterly for the next three days and favourable for plume transport," "A fresh Western Disturbance as a trough between 3.1 and 3.6 km above mean sea level runs roughly along the Afghan Pakisthan border, will approach northwest India by November 2," "The Western disturbance is likely to influence Delhi's air quality positively. An improvement to the lower end of the Very poor category is expected by Saturday," SAFAR mentioned.
According to pollution monitoring agencies, the effective stubble fire counts of North West India (Haryana & Punjab) has increased from the previous day count of 1057 to 2396, as evident from SAFAR-multi-satellite fire product.
According to data from Central Pollution Control Boards (CPCB), the state has recorded a whopping increase of 7,842 fires - from 12,027 on October 27 to 19,869 on October 30.While Haryana has recorded an increase of 476 cases - from 3,735 on October 27 to 4,211 on October 30.
The stubble fire count in Haryana and Punjab has increased. The share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 concentration was 27 percent on Thursday and is predicted to be 25 percent on Friday, it said. On Thursday, smoke from crop residue burning accounted for 35 percent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution, the highest this season. Meanwhile AQI at RK Puram , Punjbai Bagh, US Embassy and New Delhi Institute of Tool Engineering recorded 432, 592, 501 and 543 respectively.