Delhi Air Pollution: Air quality turns 'very poor' ahead of Diwali, likely to improve today | Updates

New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The air quality of Delhi-NCR on Monday morning plunged to the 'very poor' category after the air quality index (AQI) breached the grim mark of 302, said the System of Air Quality And Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) while adding that the share of crop residue burning emissions in PM2.5 is about 8 per cent.

However, the SAFAR has predicted that the air quality in the NCR is expected to "improve to the upper end of poor" from Monday as the wind direction will likely change from north-westerly to westerly and south-westerly, reducing the "transport of emissions from stubble burning".

"Isolated rainfall is likely in the upwind region that would improve air quality," said the Centre-run SAFAR, as reported by news agency ANI.

Notably, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had also predicted that the air quality in the Delhi-NCR will stay in the lower end of 'very poor' category till Thursday. However, it has also warned that the air quality might "significantly" deteriorate from November 5.

"PM2.5 to be the predominant pollutant," the IMD said, as reported by ANI.

According to the SAFAR, an AQI within the range of 0-5 is regarded as 'good', 51-100 is 'satisfactory', 101-200 is 'moderate', 201-300 is 'poor' and 301-400 is 'very poor' and 401-500 is considered 'severe'.

Earlier too, government agencies had warned that the air quality in the NCR might deteroriate following Diwali after which the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was implemented in the region, banning the use of diesel generator sets.

GRAP, which was approved by the Supreme Court in 2016, is a set of action plans formulated by the Environment Pollution Authority (EPCA) to control air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

"Mechanical/ vacuum-based sweeping of roads to be carried out daily. Ensure water sprinkling along with use of dust suppressants on roads to arrest road dust especially at hotspots, heavy traffic corridors, vulnerable areas (before peak hours) and proper disposal of dust collected in designated sites/ landfills," said Sub-Committee on GRAP in its order.