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Delhi’s air quality deteriorated on Thursday, recording the worst AQI of the season so far—354—in the ‘very poor’ category.
Delhi has already recorded three ‘very poor’ air days this week, with the first one on Diwali.
Most other parts of the NCR have also recorded AQI in the ‘very poor’ category, going by data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Among the NCR towns and cities, Ghaziabad recorded the worst AQI of 373 on Thursday, followed by Greater Noida with an AQI of 368. Gurgaon recorded an AQI of 362 on Thursday.
For Delhi, this is the worst AQI that the city has seen in the past nine months. The last time the AQI was worse was in January when Delhi saw AQI in the ‘severe’ category as well.
According to the SAFAR forecasting system, the most influencing factor that is leading to a deterioration in AQI is low local wind speed leading to poor dispersion of pollutants. Gufran Beig, founder project director, SAFAR, also said the winter has begun to set in with colder conditions across the Indo Gangetic plain, which is now preventing pollutants from dispersing on account of a low boundary layer that traps pollutants closer to the surface.
The contribution of crop residue burning to PM2.5 levels in Delhi, however, remains low, though the number of fire counts has increased. The contribution of stubble burning to the PM2.5 concentration in Delhi was around 6 to 7% on Thursday. The contribution has not risen beyond this level so far this season. This is mainly due to winds not being strong enough to carry the smoke and wind direction not being favourable, according to Beig.
Stubble burning instances in Punjab so far this year have been higher than it was last year.
From September 15 to October 27, Punjab recorded 8,147 paddy residue burning events, according to data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) monitoring portal which relies on satellite information from NASA. Over the same period last year, Punjab recorded a lower figure of 6,742 fire counts. In contrast, Haryana has recorded 1,578 burning events this year which is lower than the figure of 2,103 such instances till October 27 last year.
A communication from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Thursday also noted that the “increased incidents of stubble burning this year in Punjab is a matter of serious concern”. It added that only around 39% of the total sown area in Punjab had been harvested till October 24, making the “rising number of fire events” an “alarming situation”.
Data till October 26 shows that there were 7,036 burning events in Punjab, which is an increase of 9% compared to 6,463 such events till October 26 last year, according to the CAQM. Around 70% of these farm fires were reported from six districts — Amritsar, Firozpur, Kapurthala, Patiala, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran, the CAQM’s communication read. The CAQM has “taken up with the Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab” for implementation of an action plan that is in place for stubble burning.
The contribution of crop residue burning to Delhi’s air was higher around this time last year. While it was 15% on October 22, it was 8% on October 27, and 16% on October 28, going by data from SAFAR. Till October 27, the average AQI for the month last year (159) was better than the average for the month so far this year (185).
A forecast issued by the Air Quality Early Warning System on Thursday notes that the air quality in Delhi is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category from October 28 to 30.
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