Delhi’s air quality has once again fallen into the ‘severe’ category. Over the past 24 hours, the average AQI reached 401 as of 6pm on Friday. Of the 39 monitoring stations across the city, 19 reported AQI levels in the “severe” category. The highest AQI was recorded at 445 in Jahangirpuri.
Air quality, which for almost a week was in the severe and very severe category, saw a slight improvement on Friday morning and the AQI fell into the “very poor” category with a reading of 371. However, the Air quality deteriorated during the day: the AQI stood at 397 around 5 pm and crossed the 400 mark at 6 pm
The AQI readings are as follows: AQI between 0 and 50 is “good”, 51 to 100 is “satisfactory”, 101 to 200 is “moderate”, 201 to 300 is “poor”, 301 to 400 is a score” “moderate.” between 500 and 500 is considered “very poor” and a score between 401 and 500 is considered “severe.” The increasing level of pollution in Delhi has seriously affected the health of the people.
A survey conducted by LocalCircles has revealed that 75 per cent of households in Delhi have at least one member suffering from respiratory illnesses such as sore throat or cough. The major contributors to pollution in Delhi-NCR are carbon emissions from vehicles and smoke from burning crop residue in fields in neighboring states.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to curb pollution, the Delhi government has asked 50 per cent of its employees to work from home. The government has ordered staggered office hours for all government employees to avoid road congestion. Anti-pollution measures are currently being implemented in Phase IV of the Phased Response Action Plan to prevent deterioration in air quality.
The restrictions imposed under Uva IV include prohibition of entry of trucks, except those for emergency service, LNG, CNG, BS-VI diesel or electric vehicles. The passage of non-essential light commercial vehicles from outside Delhi is also prohibited. If there are CNG, BS-VI diesel or electric commercial vehicles, there is no restriction for them. Construction work on government projects has been stopped.
