Delhi wakes up to hazardous pollution levels, reduced visibility due to smog

Pollution levels reached hazardous levels in Delhi on Wednesday morning. Express photo

Two days after Diwali night, Delhi again experienced low visibility due to smog on Wednesday morning as pollution levels touched hazardous limits. The PM 10 levels reached a massive 999, more than 10 times higher than the safe limit. On the other hand, PM 2.5 touched a maximum of 743, as per the air quality index.

Delhi — ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world — saw an increase in pollution levels a week before Diwali and hit hazardous levels on Sunday night. PM 10 levels hit 999 at places like Anand Vihar, Punjabi Bagh and RK Puram. The pollution levels did slightly dip on Tuesday, in comparison to the day after Diwali, but again shot up on Wednesday morning. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia Tuesday promised to take aggressive steps to tackle the problem of growing pollution in the city. Sisodia, who held a preparatory meeting with various departments, said the government will take a slew of anti-pollution measures, including the use of sprinklers and mist fountains, smoke tappers in crematoriums, and waste management to minimise emission of methane gas caused by burning at landfill sites.

Smog leading to low visibility in Delhi-NCR. Express photo

Several took to Twitter to share their anger and concern about the prevailing situation.

So the Delhi smog is down to just diwali crackers or the reported field burning happening nearby as well?

— Jaidatt Udiyavar (@udiyavar) November 2, 2016

Don’t just blame firecrackers for smog in delhi , constant toxic fire and smoke from garbage mountain from Ghazipur dump in east delhi pic.twitter.com/lFXBg9Vb9v

— ❅ Keep Smiling (@upma23) November 2, 2016

Today’s smog level in Delhi: Breathe and die.

— Bidisha Das (@bee_muses) November 2, 2016

The AAP government had introduced odd-even formula earlier this year to cut back on vehicular emissions as problems due to pollution become more severe during the winters. On Monday, five cars were involved in collisions on the Delhi Noida Direct flyway due to extremely poor visibility due to smog.