Even as the pollution level dropped considerably on the Christmas across the national Capital due to relatively fine wind speed, Anand Vihar area in East Delhi continued to be in the red zone experiencing high level of pollution.
PM (10) level was recorded four times higher than the prescribed standards set by the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) at Anand Vihar area while PM 2.5 was 97 µg/m3 on Friday. The prescribed standards of PM (10) and PM (2.5) are 100 µg/m3 and 60 µg/m3 respectively.
The situation in other areas, however, seemed relatively better as per the pollution index of Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPB).
Chirashree Ghosh, Senior Associate Professor at Department of Environmental Studies in Delhi University (DU), said that due to traffic transition in border areas of the city, pollution in that area remains high. “The ongoing construction, traffic, biomass burnings are major activities on outskirts areas of Anand Vihar,” said Ghosh, who is doing a research on the Delhi Pollution.
Noticeably, PM-10 and PM-2.5 in RK Puram area was recorded at 229 and 88 (µg/m3) exhibiting an unusual drop as per the monthly database of November and December.
The mass concentrations of both the pollutants showed extremely reduced levels in other areas of the city including Mandir Marg, Civil lines, Punjabi Bagh and IGI Airport.
In Punjabi Bagh area, PM-10 was reduced to 196µg/m3 while a week before it was recorded at 350 µg/m3. PM-2.5 was observed to be 89 µg/m3 at 7 pm. While talking about the sudden pollution drop, professor Ghosh said that in earlier days of the month, the wind speed was measured 0.3 µg/m3. “Wind speed is relatively high which affects pollution levels. With increased wind speed, level of PM drops,” she further explained.
The air monitoring data on SAFAR also showed drop in PM levels as PM 10 was recorded at 310 µg/m3 and PM 2.5 was 192 µg/m3. However, on Wednesday, the levels of the two were 440 µg/m3 and 210 µg/m3 respectively.