Delhi's air quality worse on back of landfill blaze: Govt body

The reading is up from Tuesday’s figure of 209, also in the poor category, the CPCB figures showed.

Published on: Apr 28, 2022, 04:33:18 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok, New Delhi

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With the fire at Bhalswa landfill continuing to rage, even 24 hours after it started on Tuesday evening, Delhi’s air quality took a hit on Wednesday, as the air quality index reading worsened to the higher ranges of the ”poor” category, logging a reading of 287, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily 4pm bulletin.

A fire broke out at Bhalswa landfill, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (Amit Sharma)

The reading is up from Tuesday’s figure of 209, also in the poor category, the CPCB figures showed. The air quality data maintained by another government body, Safar, painted an even more grim picture — the air quality went from ”moderate” on Tuesday to ”very poor” on Wednesday, a change that was attributed largely to the landfill fire.

The Safar bulletin said, “The air quality index is in the lower end of the “very poor” category with dominance of coarse particles due to the prevailing dry weather. Emissions from landfill fire that began on Tuesday has degraded the AQI from ”moderate” to ”very poor” and is likely to stay in this range for the next three days, owing to low wind speed.”

Gufran Beig, founder project director of Safar, said normally, landfill fires do not have such an impact on the air quality, unless the fire is prolonged and widespread. “The (Bhalswa) fire has been raging for over 24 hours and the lead pollutant, which is generally PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometres) at this time of the year, has shifted to PM 2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometres) . While PM10 is generally due to dust, PM2.5 comes from combustion and fossil fuels and this fire is the only major addition to combustion in Delhi,” said Beig, adding that Safar’s nearest air quality station in Dhirpur was recording ”severe” AQI readings (500+) on Wednesday.

This spike is also reflected in the data maintained by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

The Jahangirpuri air quality station, the DPCC station just 5km away from the site, showed spikes in the hourly PM2.5 and PM10 readings and they were nine to 10 times above the safe limits -- 60μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 100μg/m3 for PM10 -- early on Wednesday.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More