A thick haze enveloped Delhi on Tuesday morning, signaling a continued deterioration in the city’s air quality ahead of the Diwali festivities. The Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 331 at 7:05 am, categorizing the air as ‘very poor.’ This marked a significant increase from the city’s 24-hour average AQI of 324 on Monday, which was the worst reading in 271 days. The escalating air pollution levels have raised concerns among residents, as the AQI had been just 60 on the preceding Friday.
In an alarming development, eight out of Delhi’s 58 operational air quality monitoring stations reported pollution levels in the ‘severe’ category on Tuesday morning. Notably affected areas included Bawana, Narela, and Punjabi Bagh. Conversely, the monitoring station at IGNOU in Maidangarhi was the only one to report moderate air quality. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), fine particulate matter PM2.5 was identified as the primary pollutant at 53 stations, while PM10 was the main concern at the remaining five.
Contributing to the worsening air quality, satellite observations recorded a total of 1,561 farm fires across the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana between October 1 and November 2. Punjab accounted for the majority with 1,406 incidents, while Haryana reported 155. On November 2 alone, 167 fires were detected, further exacerbating pollution levels in the region.
In response to the deteriorating conditions, authorities have activated Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi-NCR. This includes staggering office timings for government and municipal employees in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Buddha Nagar to reduce vehicular emissions. Additionally, parking fees have been increased to discourage the use of private vehicles, and resident welfare associations are urged to provide electric heaters to security personnel to prevent open burning during colder hours.