Environment Minister Imran Hussain on Tuesday reviewed the air quality of Delhi in a meeting with the senior officials of the department and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. The meeting underlined that the present weather scenario of Delhi is primarily due to the presence of fog.
The Minister discussed about the status of air quality in the wake of existing weather conditions observed across North India with rise in fog.
The Environment Department said analysis of the data of different pollutants shows that levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in Delhi is showing a decreasing trend from the corresponding levels in the first week of November.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, values of pollutants were recorded four times high. According to (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) SAFAR, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES), the average concentration of PM 10 was recorded at 256 µgm-3 and PM 2.5 was recorded at 140 µgm-3 .
Values of pollutants at Anand Vihar area of Delhi were recorded high. According to the real time ambient air quality, value of PM 10 was recorded at 726 µgm-3 while PM 2.5 was recorded at 319 µgm-3. At RK Puram, the greenest area of the city, the value of both the pollutants were recorded at 763 µgm-3 and 331 µgm-3. Notably, values of both the pollutants have been recorded at six times higher than their safer limits.
According to the environment scientist, wind speed in North West direction is relatively low and due to which the concentration of the pollutants are high in city air.
The Minister was informed that air quality in Delhi, particularly in winters, is influenced by multiple factors such as meteorological parameters such as wind speed, wind direction, humidity and solar index. Fog and smog are two separate environmental phenomenona. However, the present scenario is due to the fog.