'Very poor' air quality continues in Delhi; hotspots cross 350 AQI

Delhi continues to battle 'very poor' air quality on Thursday morning with the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 312 recorded around 7 am as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

Slight improvement, still ‘very poor’

The AQI showed slight improvement against same day previous week of 341 but air quality in the whole national capital area remained in 'very poor' range, ANI reported.

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The continuous air quality decline is still very serious health risk factor for children, elderly and people with respiratory problems.

Pollution across the city

High pollution levels were found in many parts of the national capital. CPCB reported Anand Vihar AQI was 379, Ashok Vihar 333 and Wazirpur 336.

The list of other hotspots consisted of, among others, Punjabi Bagh (338), RK Puram (359), Bawana (323), ITO (331), Chandni Chowk (361), and Dwarka Sector 8 (342), all of which were put into the category of 'very poor' air quality.

What AQI categories mean?

According to AQI classification, a score from 0 to 50 is 'good', from 51 to 100 is 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 is 'moderate', 201 to 300 is 'poor', 301 to 400 is 'very poor' and 401 to 500 is 'severe'.

Cold morning in Delhi

The minimum temperature in the city was about 7.4 degrees Celsius at seven in the morning, thus making the weather conditions even more difficult for the people living there.

Govt Action: Parking fee doubled under GRAP

Due to the poor air quality, the Delhi government on Wednesday announced that the parking fee at all the authorized parking lots would be increased to twice its normal rate whenever the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) Stage III ('Severe' air quality with AQI of 401-450) and GRAP Stage IV ('Severe Plus' with AQI above 450) are enforced.

As per the notification, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) parking lots were also not affected by the hike in parking rates.

The notification mentioned a detailed research on air pollution and greenhouse gases 2015, which was the IIT Kanpur study, revealed that vehicles account for nearly 19.7 per cent of PM10 and 25.1 per cent of PM2.5 in winter and about 6.4 per cent of PM10 and 8.5 per cent of PM2.5 in summer.

Vehicle emissions, according to the annual emission estimates, contribute about 18 per cent of the city's CH4 emissions, 92 per cent of N2O emissions, and 30 per cent of CO2 emissions. In Delhi, the number of vehicles registered stands at approximately 82.4 lakhs.

More than 677 parking lots that are approved are available with a total capacity of around 1,06,037 vehicles, but this number does not include parking in 91 areas of DMRC.

The notification also explained that the ruling of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has considerably influenced the decision of the government to discourage the use of private vehicles, including two-wheelers, cars, and heavy vehicles, to minimize air pollution in the capital through providing destination buses and concerted efforts.