Delhi pollution: Air quality remains in ‘severe’ category; overall AQI remain above 421

Delhi air pollution: The air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the ‘severe’ category on Thursday morning, with most air monitoring stations reporting AQI over 400. AQI in the range of 401-500 is categorised as ‘severe’, while 301-400 is very poor, and 201-300 is poor. Delhi has been reporting abysmal air quality for the past few days. 

At 8 am, Anand Vihar reported AQI of 429, while IGI Airport reported 445, ITO 443 AQI, Jahangirpuri 433 AQI, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium 416 AQI, Lodhi Road 387 AQI, Ashok Vihar 431, Bawana 437 AQI, and Dwarka Sector 8 462 AQI, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. The overall AQI of Delhi remained above 421. 

Meanwhile, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai held a meeting with a team from IIT-Kanpur on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of artificial rainfall through cloud seeding to bring down the AQI of the national capital. The minister, after the meeting, said that artificial rain could be used on November 20-21, if the weather remains cloudy. Rai said that they are expecting a detailed report from IIT-Kanpur, which the government will then present in front of the Supreme Court. 

Additionally, the Haryana government has taken stringent measures against stubble burning, issuing 1,256 challans against the offenders, imposing more than Rs 32 lakh in fines and filing 72 FIRs, Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said on Wednesday. Kaushal said that 90 per cent of paddy harvesting has been completed and the state government is actively bolstering its measures to combat stubble burning. 

The Delhi government has also announced an early winter break for schools from November 9-18 amid severe air pollution. "In view of air pollution, the winter break for all schools, which is usually from December, has been rescheduled, now to be from November 9-18," the Delhi education department stated. Students and teachers have been instructed to stay at home. 

The AAP government has banned the entry of non-Delhi registered commercial cabs booked through Ola, Uber, other taxi aggregator apps into the national capital as it aims to improve the air quality in the city. Only cabs registered in Delhi will be allowed to ply in the national capital. A detailed order will be issued on implementation of this order, said Gopal Rai. 

Also read: Delhi govt bans entry of app-based cabs registered in other states amid severe air quality

Also read: Delhi pollution: Early winter break for schools from Nov 9-18 amid severe air quality