GURUGRAM: The sharp increase in recorded instances of farm fires around Delhi-NCR this year has corresponded with the first half of November, which is seeing the highest number of ‘severe’ AQI days (five) in the past five years.
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A comparison of AQI data since 2016 of the three-month period from September to November, when farm fires are reported, revealed that 2019 saw the most ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ AQI days. This year, till November 12, there has only been one ‘good’ air day. Farm fires alone, though, do not determine AQI. Meteorological factors, wind direction and local sources also play an important part.
Though the air quality hovers around the severe (401-500) category on the AQI scale during the stubble burning season, the city in the past five years witnessed only one day when the AQI reached the severe+ or the emergency level. On November 7, 2016, it was recorded at 540.
‘Good’ air days — with AQI in the 0-50 range — were seen only twice in the year 2016 and gave the city a complete miss the following year. In 2018, there were three ‘good’ AQI days, followed by a five-year high of nine in 2019.
With the exception of 2019, when it saw 23 ‘satisfactory’ air days, the city has seen nearly the same number of such days these past five years — 11 in 2016, nine in both 2017 and 2018, and 10 so far this year.
According to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the city is witnessing the worst AQI in the past five years as it had only witnessed one ‘good’ air day since September 1. A senior HSPCB official said, “There is not a single ‘satisfactory’ day in October and in November it has already witnessed five ‘severe’ AQI days so far.” He added that the board is taking aggressive steps to curb air pollution in the city.