Unhindered stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab continues to play havoc with the air quality in Delhi and its peripheral areas. The air quality deteriorated further on Monday, with winds coming from Punjab and Haryana carrying poisonous smoke. North-westerly winds coming from Punjab is expected to continue for the next three days, environmentalists say.
Images captured by NASA's fire mapper show increased in biomass burning in Punjab and Haryana as the State Governments have turned a blind eye towards this problem.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Technical University (DTU) in north Delhi, ITO in Central Delhi, Anand Vihar in west Delhi and areas in Ghaziabad and Noida recorded a “severe” rating on the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 5 pm on Monday.
The average PM2.5 or particles with diameter less than 2.5mm -- the major pollutant -- was 353 units, about 14 times the safe limit by 8 p.m in Delhi, with average AQI value of 356, considered “very poor”.
The safe range for PM2.5 is 60 micrograms per cubic meter as per Indian standards and 25 units as per international norms.
In Delhi, the DTU recorded 426 on the AQI at 6 p.m, with PM2.5 ranging 335-500 units between 6 a.m and 6 p.m.
Pusa in central Delhi was the area with cleanest air in the national Capital with an AQI value of 263, considered “poor”, and average PM2.5 recorded at 115 units -- four times the safe limit.
At ITO, AQI value was 400 at 6 pm and PM2.5 ranging 307-500 units from 9 am to 6 pm; at Anand Vihar it was 476, with PM2.5 ranging 308-500 units; Vasundhara in Ghaziabad had an AQI value of 438, with PM2.5 ranging 316-500 units; and Sector 125 in Noida had an AQI of 435, with PM2.5 ranging 318-500 units.
The CPCB's data from 13 other monitoring stations across Delhi recorded “very poor” on AQI ranging from 265 (poor) at Aya Nagar to 396 at Punjabi Bagh.