Air Pollution

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the concentration of both PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the environment was recorded at 315 and 210 under "very poor" and "poor category" respectively. As per the SAFAR forecast, the city's air quality will further deteriorate with AQI escalating to 326 in the "very poor category" on Monday.

In a slight improvement, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 431 on Saturday morning, according to data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The AQI on Friday night deteriorated to 437 from Thursday's 418, said SAFAR.

The PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration stood at 418 and 399, respectively, under the same "severe" and "very poor" category, according to the SAFAR data.

According to data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the concentration of (Particulate Matters) PM 10 and PM 2.5 was recorded as 219 and 316 in Delhi. In Pusa, the AQI was 318 while, PM 10 was 199. At Lodhi Road, the AQI was 309 with PM 2.5 concentration and the PM 10 stood at 193.

According to a forecast issued by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) on Sunday, the AQI in Delhi will remain in the 'poor' category till Wednesday and the subsequent six days. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that the AQI of Anand Vihar was recorded at 428 or the 'severe' category on Monday.

This alarming observation was found in a detailed, all-India winter air quality analysis done by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and released on Wednesday. Even though the overall regional averages of PM2.5 levels were lower than the previous winter in most regions, the winter smog episodes recorded severe spikes in several regions.

With a very small window available for the farmers in Punjab and Haryana between harvesting paddy and sowing of wheat, every year, the beginning of the winter season witnesses agro-waste burning in Haryana and Punjab, and the meteorological conditions bring that pollution towards Delhi.

On behalf of Clean Air Punjab, Gurpreet Singh of the Punjab Development Forum and Director of United Sikhs submitted a dossier containing the recommendations to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Daljit Cheema, AAP legislator Aman Arora and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Bajwa. "Punjab needs a strong leader who can implement structural reforms and revise policies to improve the air quality of all cities in the state," Gurpreet Singh said.

"This analysis of real time air quality data for the period 2019-2021 shows that the downward dip in pollution that was induced by the hard lockdown phases of the pandemic in 2020 is threatening to bounce back with the levels in 2021 already rising. But in many cases, the levels are still lower than 2019. This underscores the urgency of scaling up action across all sectors to prevent further worsening and to arrest the trend in this region," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at CSE.

"Taking into consideration different studies that clearly show that C&D sites are a major contributor of air pollution across the NCR, the Commission if of the view that except for some exemptions, C&D activities should not be allowed in the NCR till further orders," a release from the Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ministry said.