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Flights remain grounded for second day in Shimla; air quality hit
Foggy weather conditions will continue in Himachal Pradesh for the next 48 hours.
The sky became even more hazy in Shimla and surrounding areas on Friday, grounding all flights and affecting the air quality. All flights from the Shimla airport remained grounded for the second day today. The air quality too went from satisfactory two days ago to very poor today.
Shimla airport director Sunil Maggirwar said, “Flights from Shimla airport at Jubberhatti could not operate today due to low visibility. “
“Visibility at the airport has dropped to 1,000 kilometers from 5,000 kilometers. The levels is changing every half-an-hour,” Nand Kishore, customer service agent at the airport said.
Himachal government in association with Pawan Hans limited had launched a heli-taxi service from Shimla to Chandigarh , earlier this month. This taxi plies between Shimla and Chandigarh from the Shimla airport. However, the services remained suspended on Friday afternoon due to low visibility.
“Fifteen passengers were supposed to fly from Shimla today,” said Swati, an official of Pawan Hans Limited.
Weather officials said the haze was a result of the rise in the level of dust particles suspended in atmosphere in Himachal.
“Foggy weather conditions will continue in Himachal Pradesh for the next 48 hours . The western disturbances will also result in rains,” Shimla metrological department director said.
Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board principal chief scientific officer, Manoj Chauhan, said, “The air quality has deteriorated in the town. The residual particulate matter suspended in the air has risen to 315 from 80 yesterday. However, there has been no variation in gaseous content in the town so far. “
“Respirable suspended particulate level in air was recorded at 315 micro grams per cubic meter, around four times more than what was recorded two days ago,” he added.
