Delhi air 'very poor', 586 teams to enforce construction ban

New Delhi, October 30

With Delhi air quality index (AQI) continuing to be in the ‘very poor’ category, bordering on severe, the Delhi Government on Sunday kicked off several anti-pollution measures as directed by the Commission on Air Quality Management (CAQM) with 586 teams constituted to check construction and demolition activities in the area.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai today chaired a high-level meeting and imposed an immediate construction and demolition ban as directed by the CAQM which ordered the invocation of grade III air pollution response. It entails a ban on construction activities except in exempted categories such as hospitals, defence establishments and national security projects.

“Construction and demolition activity has been prohibited in Delhi due to the city’s rising pollution. As many as 586 teams have been formed to monitor the construction-demolition ban. Water sprinkling has been intensified and 521 water sprinklers, 233 anti-smog guns, 150 mobile anti-smog guns have been deployed,” Rai said.

The third phase of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) restrictions would be put into effect in Delhi as per CAQM’s directives, assured Rai.

On Sunday morning, Delhi saw AQI in the ‘very poor’ category with the weather experts noting that slow wind speed and a rise in stubble burning, especially in Punjab, could push the air into the ‘severe’ zone.

Delhi’s average AQI was 367 at 9 am. The 24-hour average AQI on Saturday was 397, the worst since January.

VK Soni, head of the India Meteorological Department’s Environment Monitoring and Research Centre, said a layer of smog hovered over Delhi-NCR on Saturday with adverse weather conditions persisting.

Smoggy conditions are expected to persist for two days with forecasters predicting some relief from Tuesday.

Forecaster SAFAR under the Earth Sciences Ministry said the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution was 21 per cent on Saturday.

This is the highest of the year, the agency said, estimating an increase up to 40 per cent on Sunday — something that could push AQI into the severe category.

Rai said Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) saw pollution spike in the winter due to three reasons — rise in the amount of dust, vehicular pollution and biomass burning. He urged Uttar Pradesh Government to avoid using diesel buses in the bordering areas of Delhi at this time.