Delhi air quality again plunges into ‘very poor’ category

Meanwhile, visuals shared by news agency ANI showed many areas were enveloped in a layer of haze on Friday morning. Areas like Akshardham, Nizamuddin East, Kalindi Kunj and AIIMS, witnessed smog filled skies.

Areas like Indira Gandhi International Airport, Dilshad Garden, and Lodhi Road registered to be in the ‘poor’ category with an AQI of 280, 292, and 256, respectively.

On the other hand, many areas in the national capital region (NCR) have been witnessing an improvement in the air quality in the last few days. The AQI in Noida stood at 243, Greater Noida at 255 and Ghaziabad at 216 AQI on Friday morning.

According to the Central government’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) data, the AQI is expected to improve after Saturday, December 9, as the wind speed is likely to increase to 14-18 kmph, reported the Times of India.

A research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment, Shubhansh Tiwari, said that “targeted year-long approach is required to improve the region’s air quality.”

In view of the persistent worsening of air quality in the national capital, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh raised a question in the ongoing winter session of Parliament on the measures taken by the government on public health and air pollution. Congress MP Ramesh asked whether the Centre had even considered reviewing the Pollution Control Act which was passed in 1981 and also the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

“In view of the problem of air pollution in the country, a provision of ₹19,711 crore was made by the Centre and to define the standards that were set, 131 cities in the country were also identified,” Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said replying to the question, reported Business Standard.

“The Central government implemented schemes to identify these cities, all provisions were made keeping in mind the toxic emissions that spread in the air, especially PM 2.5 and PM 10,” the minister added.