Farmers Movement Archive

Delhi AQI continues to remain very poor, at 310 on Monday

Delhi’s air quality remained in the “very poor” category on Monday morning as per the data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The capital recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 310 at 7am on Monday.The 24-hour average AQI was 364 on Sunday. Except for Thursday, when AQI had dropped to 297, the air quality remained in very poor category all of last week.An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.Scientists said over 3,000 incidents of stubble fires in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on Saturday contributed to 40% of PM 2.5 load in Delhi’s air -- the highest so far.Vijay Soni, scientist, IMD, air quality division, said, “The only reason Delhi escaped the impact of severe air quality is because of favourable meteorological conditions. Wind speed ranged from 10 to 18 kmph on Sunday which aided dispersal but air quality can deteriorate if the high number of farm fires persist.”Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary, Bharatiya Kisan Union, agreed that the number of farm fires is unusually high. “This is because of two reasons. One is that farmers are agitating against the farm bills. They are not in a mood to comply with directions. They are also looking to complete harvesting in the next 10 days. There is little monitoring by law enforcing agencies also because of widespread agitation. Farm fires are particularly high in Barnala, Bhatinda, Ludhiana and surrounding areas,” he said.Meanwhile, IMD predicted that the city will experience a minimum temperature of 11 degree Celsius on Monday with fog and mist in the morning which will clear later in the day. At 30 degree Celsius, the maximum temperature is also predicted to be marginally lesser than Sunday’s 30.6 degree Celsius.Indicating an early onset of winter, the minimum temperature in Delhi dropped to 11.4 degree Celsius -- 5 degrees below normal -- on Sunday morning.This came after October was the coldest Delhi has experienced in 58 years, with the mean minimum temperature for the month at 17.2 degrees Celsius. November also started on a very cold note suggesting colder days ahead.“A western disturbance is impacting the higher reaches of the Himalayas. The minimum temperature has dipped because of that. Colder conditions are likely this month,” said K Sathi Devi, head, National Weather Forecasting Centre.

Hindustan Times

02-11-2020

Delhi