Transport sector contributed 10.65% to pollution on Sunday: DSS data

The share of peripheral industries in the pollution on Sunday was logged at 7.79%, followed by neighbouring cities like Sonipat and Gautam Budh Nagar’s contribution at 4.78% and 4.68%, respectively.

The transport sector contributed 10.65% to Delhi’s pollution on Sunday, as per data from the Decision Support System (DSS) for air quality management. The air quality index (AQI) in the Capital deteriorated on Sunday and the average 24-hour reading shot up to 440 (severe), as against 400 on Saturday.

DSS is the city’s only operational pollution-tracking model, being run by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

The share of peripheral industries in the pollution on Sunday was logged at 7.79%, followed by neighbouring cities like Sonipat and Gautam Budh Nagar’s contribution at 4.78% and 4.68%, respectively.

DSS is the city’s only operational pollution-tracking model, being run by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune.

As per forecasts by the DSS, the transport sector is expected to contribute 12.85% to Delhi’s pollution by Tuesday and 14.8% by Wednesday. Further, the share of peripheral industries is likely to grow to 11.69% by Wednesday.

Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at the Envirocatalysts, said, “The wind speed has anyway been low, which favours the stagnation of pollutants. Moreover, wind coming from the east and southeast direction is bringing pollutants from highly industrial districts like Gautam Budh Nagar. Even Bulandshahr is showing up as a contributor because of its coal based power plant.”

“Besides Grap measures, these industrial points also have to be considered and tackled. If there are forecasts of the air pollution spiking, the operation of these industries have to be immediately lowered,” Dahiya added.

On Sunday, out of the 37 active air quality monitoring stations in Delhi, the reading at 27 remained in the “severe” category at 6pm. The highest reading was at Delhi University’s north campus, where the AQI was 477 at 6pm, followed by 475 at Ashok Vihar, 476 at Bawana and 474 at Rohini.

Forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi, however, promises relief as wind speed is expected to pick up, possibly pushing the air quality back to “very poor” by Monday.

BS Vohra, president of east Delhi RWAs joint front, said, “Grap 4 is not enough. We had previously demanded a stage as well. The government needs to declare a public health emergency immediately. It is so astonishing that we keep shouting we cannot breath and the government does not listen. At least if an emergency is declared, people will be able to stay inside till the situation gets better.”