Steep rise in stubble burning and festive activities and withdrawal of monsoon made the air high-quality in Delhi plunge to “very poor’ category as recorded on Sunday at 9.51 am. The overall Air Quality Index was at 304 at the national capital today.
At Gurugram, on the other hand the AQI was very poor at 314 on Sunday. The stubble burning in the neighbouring states made the air quality slip to “very poor” category in the last two days.
According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences forecast body SAFAR, the stubble burning contribution in Delhi’s air pollution has elevated to 14 per cent. With the wind path favourable a coming from the north-west path at transport level for intrusion. However, rainfall is most likely to take place on Sunday and enhance the air high-quality uplifting it from ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ category.
According to the National Air Quality Index, AQI involving 201 and 300 is categorised as ‘poor. The ‘poor’ AQI causes “breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure” according to the National Air Quality Index, AQI involving 201 and 300 is categorised as ‘poor.’
PM2.5 was the lead pollutant at each Anand Vihara and Okhla Phase 2 stations. A PM2.5 level of 125 micrograms per cubic metre on Saturday is most likely to rise to 138 micrograms per cubic metre on Sunday, according to the SAFAR forecast.
The air high-quality of the national capital has been falling steadily for the previous handful of days now. From the ‘moderate’ category it has slipped to the ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ category in a. handful of days. The NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) map showed thicker clusters of fire spots in Punjab and Haryana on October 16 as compared to October 12.