Delhi becomes a gas chamber, Mumbai's air quality also deteriorates

The air quality in Delhi reached the severe category on Wednesday morning after slight improvement a day earlier.

The situation in Mumbai has also worsened after Delhi became one of the most polluted cities in the world last week. Delhi and its surrounding cities have been blanketed with toxic smoke and authorities have closed schools and banned trucks and construction activities.

This morning the average AQI of Noida was 409, Gurugram 370, Faridabad (396) and Ghaziabad (382). Authorities have implemented Phase-4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), a set of anti-pollution guidelines, to arrest the deterioration in air quality. Under this, diesel trucks are not being allowed to enter the city. Many factors including vehicle emissions and stubble burning are being held responsible for air pollution in Delhi.

Poor air quality was also recorded in many cities of neighboring Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. A bulletin said, "In Delhi on November 8, there is a possibility of wind coming from north-west direction at a speed of 4-12 km per hour in the morning and partly cloudy sky and fog till afternoon/evening." Due to wind coming from different directions, very light rain is expected at one or two places in Delhi on the night of November 9.

Despite a slight decline in pollution levels, the concentration of PM2.5 (fine particles that can enter the respiratory system when inhaled and cause respiratory problems) remains seven to eight times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre remained more. This is 30 to 40 times more than the healthy limit (15 micrograms per cubic meter) set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Delhi government on Monday announced the implementation of the odd-even car scheme after four years due to fears of further worsening of air quality after Diwali. Under this scheme, cars with even or odd registration numbers are allowed to run on alternate days (except one day). The University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute and Evidence for Policy Design analyzed the impact of the odd-even policy in 2016.