Wednesday morning brought no respite for Delhiites from the toxic pollution with air quality remaining in 'very poor' category for the third consecutive day. With pollution making a comeback after a brief respite, the city woke up to thick haze hanging over the city on Wednesday. The overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded at 316, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
The CPCB further said that as many as 22 areas in the city recorded 'very poor' air quality while 13 areas recorded 'poor' air quality. The level of PM2.5 — particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres — was recorded at 159 and the PM10 level was recorded at 316, it said. The National Capital Region (NCR) also remained in the grip of deadly pollution. Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Noida recorded 'very poor' air quality while Gurgaon recorded 'poor' air quality, according to the data recorded by the CPCB.
The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said that a haze has engulfed Delhi and the wind speed and ventilation index are "extremely unfavourable" for dispersion of pollutants. Ventilation index determines how fast pollutants can get dispersed. The ventilation index of around 6,000 sqm/second gets rid of pollutants, but it came down to 1,500 sqm/second on Tuesday in the city."The air quality is very poor and as expected, a gradual increasing trend has been noticed," the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) said. "It is likely to remain very poor with a gradual increasing trend till Wednesday without any major episode and then likely to decline, but (will) continue to remain in very poor (category)," it said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has drafted its electric vehicles policy, targeting 25 per cent of all new vehicle registrations to be electric by 2023 through a subsidy for such autos, rickshaws and two-wheelers among others. It also recommends strengthening infrastructure to provide battery charging access within 3 km range from anywhere in Delhi while additional fees on non-electric vehicles will fund the bulk of corpus created to incentivise the adoption of electric vehicles. The draft policy posted on Transport department website has been put in the public domain for people to file their objections and suggestions.
NO RESPITE
- The overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded at 316
- The level of PM2.5 was recorded at 159 and PM10 level was recorded at 316
- As per IITM, the ventilation index came down to 1,500 sqm/second on Tuesday
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