Delhi-NCR schools shut; AAP, BJP spar over worsening AQI

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Atishi blamed the BJP government at the Centre for its alleged ignorance of the air quality scenario in Northern India. Atishi said, “Today, North India is being pushed into a medical emergency… Is there a single step the Centre can point to to reduce the increase of stubble burning incidents across states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan?”

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai held an inter-departmental meeting and instructed officials to strictly implement GRAP Stage-IV restrictive measures. Rai said, “The Delhi government is doing everything to control major pollution sources.”

About odd-even measures being implemented in the Capital, he said action may be taken depending on the necessity.

The minister also accused the BJP-led governments in neighbouring states of increasing the pollution in the capital by continuing operations of inter-state BS-IV vehicles. “Smog conditions in Delhi will improve only with strong winds or rain, otherwise there is no solution. I was surprised to see BS-IV buses from BJP states entering Delhi,” he said.

Hitting out at Atishi, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “It is regrettable to see on a day when Delhi wanted the government to announce drastic pollution relief measures, the Delhi CM chose to do a most irresponsible press conference to defend her party’s Punjab government and falsely accuse the Centre.”

He said before defending her party’s Punjab government, “The Delhi CM should have at least checked official IARI data on stubble burning which clearly shows that as of date, Punjab is the biggest offender on stubble burning… as the Punjab government has not provided machinery or equipment to farmers…”

PM 2.5 soars

The PM 2.5 peaks were observed at most of the stations between 11 am and 2 pm Monday, crossing 1,000 µg/m3. At R K Puram, for instance, it was at 1,050 µg/m3 at 1 pm. At Dwarka Sector 8, the peak was 1,110 µg/m3 at 1 pm.

“An increase in PM 2.5 levels has occurred because all existing perennial sources of pollution haven’t been controlled in a systematic and comprehensive way. On top of this, when the wind direction is predominantly from the northwest direction, stubble burning is also playing a role. The base emissions load is already high so in episodic events, we can see this kind of spike,” explained Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead air quality analyst at Envirocatalysts.