The news is bad, despite every effort to couch it in justification and explanation. The national capital's air is deteriorating rapidly and is just on the threshold of the “very poor” red-alert category. This, when we are only mid-way into October and the temperatures have just started dropping. According to data compiled by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a comparison of this October's air quality with last year's shows that the air quality entered the “poor” category on October 7, three days ahead of last year. Also, there has not been a single “satisfactory” day this month, unlike last year, when the air quality was much better.
At a press briefing on Friday, the CPCB officials gave several explanations for the bad air quality. CPCB member secretary Prashan Gargav explained that this autumn is comparatively drier than the previous one, with only three rainy days (21mm rainfall) in September-October as compared to seven days (121mm) last year. Rains cleanse the air, washing away suspended pollutants. The wind speed has been similarly less this year. In addition, the paddy stubble burning in fields in Punjab and Haryana has begun earlier this year. All these factors together are causing the air quality to reach worrisome levels this early into the season.
Gargav said, however, on the bright side, this meant that the peak of stubble burning would not coincide with the peak of the adverse meteorological conditions over Delhi, thus, over the entire season, there were chances that the air quality could actually turn up better than last year. He pointed out that the area under non basmati rice (the stubble burning of which is a contributor to air pollution) is less this year. Stubble burning contributed six per cent to the bad air on October 15, and 26 per cent on Friday, the highest so far, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Officials refused to comment on what the other sources of air pollution were, and what was their percentage of contribution.
Officials spoke about their elaborate plans for monitoring air quality this year, which includes appointing field inspectors from October 15 to end of February 2021, and also deploying mobile monitoring units across the capital. The city will be divided into four quadrants—clean, moderate, polluted and critical—and interventions would be planned accordingly, said CPCB chairman Shiv Das Meena.
Gargav did mention that a work from home system was advised to reduce vehicular load on the roads. Given the pandemic situation, it might not be possible to introduce a vehicular rationing system based on odd and even number plates. Meena said that under the graded response system, vehicular rationing kicks in only when the air quality reaches a ''severe plus'' level. He added that since April, BS-6 quality fuel was available in the city, which was 30 per cent cleaner. BS-6 vehicles have also hit the roads, which are 70 per cent more efficient in terms of air pollution. When more such vehicles being plying, he said, the air quality would improve.
