No respite for citizens as Delhi's air quality remains 'very poor'; experts sound red alert
PTC News Desk: Delhi’s air quality got a little better on Saturday, but the overall AQI was still very poor at 359. Except for the IHBAS centre in Dilshad Garden, all other 38 monitoring stations showed AQI levels above 300, and 12 of them reported ‘severe’ pollution with readings over 400.
Major polluted areas like Anand Vihar (422), Narela (401), Ashok Vihar (403), Bawana (419), Jahangirpuri (417), Rohini (414), Vivek Vihar (423) and Nehru Nagar (402) recorded extremely bad air quality.
According to government data, from September to November 20, Punjab had about 5,000 farm fire cases, Uttar Pradesh about 4,600, and Haryana 592. In comparison, during the wheat-harvesting season in summer, Punjab saw 47,000 cases, Uttar Pradesh 45,000, and Haryana 9,700.
With pollution worsening, the Delhi government has asked all schools, colleges, universities and sports organisations to postpone any physical sports events planned for November and December. This decision is based on the CAQM’s instructions, which told Delhi and NCR state governments to delay such events because of the high pollution levels.
- With inputs from agencies
