Unlike Tuesday, Delhiites witnessed a minor relief from smoggy conditions on Wednesday as mild easterly winds blew over the city partially reducing pollution in the air. However, in the absence of any wind, officials in the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) have not ruled out another episode of dense smog resulting from farm fires in the neighbouring States. Meanwhile, Met officials claimed that the situation will further improve with rain on Thursday.
“General visibility improved on Wednesday with the maximum recorded at 2,500 metre, while the minimum was 600 metre early in the morning. There has been a slight dip in pollution levels with wind blowing at a speed of about 10 km per hour,” said RK Jenamani, director of the Meteorological Department at IGI airport. At Punjabi Bagh, nitrogen oxide (NO2) decreased from 245 micrograms per cubic metre at 6:30 pm on Tuesday to 170.6 micrograms at the same time on Wednesday. At Anand Vihar, it reduced from 212.40 micrograms at 7 pm to 127.80 micrograms at the same time on Wednesday. At Civil lines, it dropped from 238.15 micrograms at 4 pm on Tuesday to 152.05 micrograms on Wednesday.
Despite the denial of the Met Department of farm fires from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh being the reason for the dense smog, the DPCC still believes it to be one of the factors. “The traffic volume in the city is same. Diwali got over on Sunday, and Monday the situation was not so bad. Then, how come such heavy smog suddenly covered the Capital on TuesdayIJ It certainly has to do with the burning of paddy crops in other States,” said a DPCC official. The weatherman had negated such a possibility saying that the wind over the city on Tuesday was calm resulting in zero movement in the air.