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Air quality remains ‘severe’ for third day in a row
Gurugram Air quality in the city remained ‘severe’ for the third consecutive day on Thursday, touching 412 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality
Gurugram Air quality in the city remained ‘severe’ for the third consecutive day on Thursday, touching 412 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) bulletin. On Wednesday, the AQI was 447 — the highest since November 3, whereas it was lower on Tuesday, at 402.
On Thursday, the concentration of finer particulate matter (PM2.5), the most prominent pollutant, exceeded the 500ug/m3 mark at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11, where the CPCB’s AQI monitor is placed. The safe limit for PM2.5 is 60ug/m3.
Forecasts on Thursday predicted the air quality to improve slightly on Friday to the upper end of the ‘very poor’ category. No major improvement in air quality is predicted until Saturday, when meteorological conditions, such as wind speed, are expected to improve.
“Severe air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) over the last three days is a result of the accumulation of internal pollutants and those from farm fires in neighbouring states. Wind speed is expected to pick up after Friday so the pollutants will remain accumulated till then. Farm fires have also been detected in Punjab and Haryana and are contributing around 25% of pollutants in NCR,” a senior scientist with the CPCB’s air quality lab said.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), wind speed is likely to pick up from Saturday, when the current western disturbance passes. The IMD has also predicted light rain at isolated spots in the city on Saturday, and air quality experts said it could wash out some pollutants and bring the city’s AQI reading to ‘poor’ or ‘moderate’ category by Saturday night.
According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar), a wing of the ministry of earth sciences, northeast winds would be blowing over NCR with a speed of 18kmph on Saturday. Strong surface winds, with a speed of 15-20 kmph, are also expected during the day and could disperse the accumulated pollutants, said experts.
On Thursday, as per the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority’s (Epca) orders to control pollution, schools remained shut and other parts of the NCR. Also, a ban on industrial activities was put in place until Friday. Construction works also remain banned until further notice, as per the Supreme Court’s November 4 directive.
“Multiple teams are in the field to ensure that the ban on construction activities is implemented. Schools have been shut as per Epca’s order and so are the polluting industries. Officers are regularly monitoring Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) compliance and taking action,” said Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner of Gurugram and the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG).
On Thursday, MCG workers carried out mechanised sweeping of 12.5 kilometres of city roads and sprinkled water over 120 kilometres, said officials. So far this month, the MCG has served 199 notices to those violating Grap and has issued fines totalling to ₹9,69,000, as per the data.
