Thick haze envelops Delhi, AQI to stay in ‘very poor’ zone for now

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air remained ‘very poor’ for the second consecutive day on Friday with an Air Quality Index of 357. A thick haze hung over the city throughout the day, with the winds being calm and causing no dispersion of pollutants.
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The share of stubble burning pollutants in PM2.5 was 7%, according to the Union earth sciences ministry’s forecasting body, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Research (SAFAR). The air is expected to stay in the ‘very poor’ category till Monday.

Satellite images showed plumes of smog over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on Friday morning. According to the India Meteorological Department, the average visibility at Safdarjung, the city’s base weather station, dropped to 800-1,500 metres through the day. Palam recorded a visibility of 1,200-1,500 metres.
“Delhi recorded the lowest visibility in the past 10 days. The wind was mostly calm and reached a speed of 5kmph in the afternoon,” said RK Jenamani, senior scientist, IMD. “The calm conditions are likely to prevail for the next two days and wind speed may only reach 5-7 kmph.”
The slow winds also helped prevent farm fire emissions from reaching Delhi. As Gufran Beig, founder project director, SAFAR, explained, “Though the fire count is on rise, the contribution of stubble burning in PM2.5 was low on Friday because transport-level wind speed was too slow to carry pollutants from the burning sites to the capital.” He added that the contribution of farm fires to bad air is likely to rise from Saturday with meteorological conditions expected to favour transport of pollutants.
Satellites detected 2,067 farm fires in Punjab, 123 in Haryana and 34 in UP on Friday, according to Indian Agricultural Research Institute data. This is the first time this season when the daily count in Punjab crossed 2,000.
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to be ‘very poor’ till October 31.
Meanwhile, the Commission for Air Quality Management said 860 industrial units in NCR are using non-clean fuels. Of these, 32 coal-based units (nine in Haryana and 23 in UP) have been closed permanently, 45 units in Rajasthan have been served closure notice and 48 (eight in Haryana and 40 in UP) have suspended operations pending their conversion to approved fuels.
Since October 6, CAQM said it has carried out 472 incognito inspections and issued closure orders to around 75 grossly violating units. CAQM also issued closure notices to 28 construction & demolition projects not registered on the mandatory web portal or for violating the dust control norms and other guidelines.