Delhi's air quality slips into very poor category, govt intensifies winter action plan to tackle pollution
Air quality in Delhi has slipped into the ‘very poor’ category on Saturday. This comes amid IIT-Delhi releasing a study that says artificial rain is not possible in Delhi during the winter months due to low atmospheric moisture.
Delhi and its struggles with pollution seems like an unending story. The national capital's air quality has again deteriorated, and now the Air Quality Index (AQI) is hovering near 303. In comparison, Friday's AQI in the city was much lower, at 218.
As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi's AQI was around 303 on Friday at 4 pm.
The worst AQI was reported from Wazirpur, which was choking under an AQI of 383 as per its monitoring station, thus being placed in the 'very poor' quality. The other 37 monitoring stations in Delhi showed readings of 'poor'.
AQI classification
As per the CPCB, AQI between zero to 50 is considered 'good' while those between 51 to 100 is 'satisfactory'. 101-200 comes under the 'moderate' category while 201-300 comes under 'poor'. 301-400 is considered 'very poor' and 401-500 is considered 'severe'.
On Saturday, Delhi saw a maximum temperature of 30.5 degrees Celsius, which was 3.3 degrees above normal, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The humidity level on Saturday stood at 73 per cent at 5:30 pm, as per a PTI report.
Sirsa inspects pollution control measures
Amid the rising pollution in the national capital, Delhi's environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa inspected pollution-control measures being undertaken at Anand Vihar.
He announced during the visit that there are 13 pollution hotspots in Delhi, and the government is giving attention to each of them.
""There are 13 main hotspots where pollution is very high, and our government is continuously working on those areas. All hotspots are being extra-monitored. Today, we inspected the Anand Vihar bus stop; after that, we will visit Shalimar Bagh and Ashok Vihar in North Delhi. Our goal is to address the traffic congestion at these hotspots, the lack of road management, and the degraded infrastructure there," the minister told reporters, as per an ANI report.
He also claimed that the Rekha Gupta government in Delhi has been pulling all strings to deal with the pollution.
As soon as CM Rekha Gupta's government came to power, it began fighting against pollution. From charging stations to e-bus systems, work has begun on all the roads in Delhi that were prone to dust. Roads are being renovated by various departments, costing over ₹400 crore. Work on installing permanent water sprinklers through mist in these hotspots has also begun," Sirsa told reporters.
Delhi's atmosphere in winter unsuitable for cloud seeding
The IIT-Delhi, meanwhile, has announced that the atmosphere in Delhi during winters is not suitable for cloud seeding. This is because during these months the amount of moisture content and saturation in the atmosphere is not enough for artificial rain.
The necessary atmospheric conditions are rare and frequently coincide with natural rainfall, limiting the potential marginal gain," PTI quoted the report as saying.