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NEW DELHI: The air quality continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category for the third consecutive day with an Air Quality Index of 347 on Monday. Relief from bad air is unlikely till November 2. The number of farm fires in Punjab remained over 1,000 for the second day in a row. Punjab, Haryana and UP recorded 1030, 52 and 19 stubble burning counts, respectively, on Monday.
However, due to variable winds, the contribution of stubble burning in Delhi’s PM2.5 was roughly 9.8% on Monday, according to the decision support system, the forecasting model under the Union ministry of earth sciences.
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The fire counts in Punjab were recorded at 127 on Saturday, but the detection of farm fires on Saturday was hampered by the presence of clouds over Punjab, Haryana and central Uttar Pradesh, said IARI. On Sunday, Punjab recorded 1,068 fire counts.
Experts said calm wind conditions and low temperatures caused accumulation of pollutants on Monday. A haze hung over the city too. “The visibility was recorded at 1,000 metres at Safdarjung on Monday morning,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, India Meteorological Department. “For a few hours, wind speed dropped to nil at Safdarjung. Easterly winds were recorded at Palam,” Srivastava added.
Central Pollution Control Board’s data shows that AQI at four stations-Mundka, North Campus of DU, Rohini and Wazirpur touched the ‘severe’ category with an AQI of over 400. According to Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to remain ‘very poor’ till November 2.
The commission for air quality management (CAQM) said that during the 45-day period (September 15 to October 29) in the current paddy harvesting season, the total stubble burning incidents in Haryana, Punjab, NCR districts in UP, NCR districts in Rajasthan and Delhi have come down from 13,964 in 2022 and 11,461 in 2021 to 6,391 in 2023.
“The central government has so far released funds to the tune of about Rs 3,333 crore under the crop residue management scheme to the state government of Punjab, NCR states and Delhi,” said CAQM.
However, due to variable winds, the contribution of stubble burning in Delhi’s PM2.5 was roughly 9.8% on Monday, according to the decision support system, the forecasting model under the Union ministry of earth sciences.
Track the pollution level in your city
The fire counts in Punjab were recorded at 127 on Saturday, but the detection of farm fires on Saturday was hampered by the presence of clouds over Punjab, Haryana and central Uttar Pradesh, said IARI. On Sunday, Punjab recorded 1,068 fire counts.
Experts said calm wind conditions and low temperatures caused accumulation of pollutants on Monday. A haze hung over the city too. “The visibility was recorded at 1,000 metres at Safdarjung on Monday morning,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, India Meteorological Department. “For a few hours, wind speed dropped to nil at Safdarjung. Easterly winds were recorded at Palam,” Srivastava added.
Central Pollution Control Board’s data shows that AQI at four stations-Mundka, North Campus of DU, Rohini and Wazirpur touched the ‘severe’ category with an AQI of over 400. According to Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to remain ‘very poor’ till November 2.
The commission for air quality management (CAQM) said that during the 45-day period (September 15 to October 29) in the current paddy harvesting season, the total stubble burning incidents in Haryana, Punjab, NCR districts in UP, NCR districts in Rajasthan and Delhi have come down from 13,964 in 2022 and 11,461 in 2021 to 6,391 in 2023.
“The central government has so far released funds to the tune of about Rs 3,333 crore under the crop residue management scheme to the state government of Punjab, NCR states and Delhi,” said CAQM.
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