Delhi pollution soars to highest level, AQI breaches 500-mark

Delhi’s pollution level has reached a new high. The Air Quality Index surged to 500 on Tuesday as recorded by Central Pollution Control Board at 6 am. The national capital is expected to remain in the higher end of the severe+ category in the coming days as stated by the Commission of Air Quality Management. 

The Centre’s air quality panel on Monday implemented strict measures to curb increasing air pollution under stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan. The authorities suspended in-person classes for all except for students in classes 10 and 12. Restrictions have been imposed on the trucks and LCVs among other vehicles as the situation worsened in the national capital region. However, most measures have proved ineffective in stopping air quality from deteriorating to levels highly dangerous to health.

As recorded on Tuesday morning, the AQI of Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Jahagirpuri, Mundka, Rohini, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur and Narela exceeded 500-mark. Other worst-affected areas include Dwarka(496), Nehru Nagar (498), Shadipur (498), Punjabi Bagh(496) and Pusa(497). The AQI in the national capital regions stood at a severe level. Ghaziabad recorded AQI at 500, Noida at 497, Greater Noida at 400, Gurugram at 403, and Faridabad at 364 as reported by CPCB. 

The Supreme Court directed Delhi-NCR states to constitute immediate teams for monitoring actions and further ordered them to continue implementation of GRAP stage IV even if AQI falls below 450. The bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih asked all NCR states and central government to file compliance affidavits. Delhi’s hourly average concentration of PM2.5 (a microscopic pollutant with a diameter between 1 and 2.5 micron) touched a peak of 820 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) at noon on Monday. The figure was around 14 times the national 24-hour standard of 60µg/m3 and 164 times the World Health Organization’s (WHO) daily limit of 5µg/m3.