The accumulation of pollutants over Delhi-NCR due to low wind speed and increase in stubble burning incidents in the past few days led to a sharp decline in Gurugram’s air quality on Tuesday, experts said.
While neighbouring cities recorded “severe” air quality levels, the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) reading in Gurugram was in the upper end of the “very poor” category at 390, a deterioration from Monday’s 376 and Sunday’s 326. Two of the four monitoring stations — Teri Gram and Sector 51 — in Gurugram, however, recorded “severe” AQI readings for most part of the day. An AQI reading between zero 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”.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality bulletin on Tuesday, Delhi’s average AQI reading was 424, Faridabad’s 403, Greater Noida’s 402 (all in the severe category), while Noida recorded an AQI reading of 398, in the “very poor” category.
According to Tuesday’s forecast by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Delhi-NCR’s air quality is likely to be in “severe” category on Wednesday as well, but is likely to improve a little in the “very poor” category on Thursday and Friday, as wind speed picks up on Wednesday evening. For the subsequent six days after Thursday, the region’s air quality is likely to remain in the “very poor” category.
“The predominant surface wind is likely to be blowing from Delhi during with a speed of 4-8kmph, mainly clear sky and mist in the morning on Wednesday. The ventilation index lower than 6,000 m2/s with average wind speed less than 10kmph is unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants,” it said.
The IITM statement added that the count of farm fires in Punjab on Tuesday was 1,842 while in Haryana, it was 88, and Delhi it was one.
System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (Safar), meanwhile, said that the local surface winds between 8-12kmph in Delhi-NCR for the next three days will cause a moderate dispersion of pollutants. “Air quality is likely to remain within the ‘very poor’ or the lower end of ‘severe’ for the next three days due to combined effect of transport of stubble burning-related pollutants as well as local emissions and weather conditions,” said Safar in its forecast.
Sachin Panwar, a city-based air quality expert, said that there has been an accumulation of pollutants over the city due to slow wind speed, and this has led to the decline in air quality. “The wind is blowing from northwest direction and bringing residue caused by farm fires in Punjab and Haryana, which are increasing in number. The situation is going to ease for a day this week but peak air pollution will be witnessed between November 7 and November 10,” he said.
Panwar also said that winter is slowly settling in Delhi-NCR and this has also slowed down the dispersal of pollutants; however, this is not a major issue yet. “Pollution due to low temperature is not a major problem yet–the main issue is low wind speed,” he said.
With the rise in pollution, Gurugram authorities said they have increased measures to combat pollution and also intensified action against violators. The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Tuesday issued nine challans to people for burning coal for cooking and 22 challans for construction-related violations. SS Rohilla, MCG spokesperson, said that 31 challans with penalties worth ₹1.18 lakh were issued to the violators. “We have increased the sprinkling of water on roads and our teams are strictly enforcing the directions under the Stage 3 of Graded Response Action Plan (Grap),” he said.
Taking into account the rise in air pollution, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority and Public Works Department have also put on hold road construction projects in line with directions of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas, which had imposed Stage 3 of Grap on October 29.
Grap for Delhi-NCR is divided into four stages, depending on air quality. Stage 1 is when the air quality is “poor”, Stage 2 is for “very poor”, Stage 3 is for “severe”, and Stage 4 is when air deteriorates to “severe plus”.
A GMDA spokesperson said that all digging and related construction work on roads and major repairs have been put on hold to prevent dust pollution. “We are only doing work allowed under Stage 3 of Grap, such as repairing potholes and related works. We are also sprinkling water at our sites to prevent pollution,” the spokesperson said.
The PWD, meanwhile, said that work at Mahavir Chowk underpass and Atul Kataria Chowk has been put on hold in line with the directions of CAQM.
