Not one good or satisfactory air day so far this Oct, Delhi pins hope on rain

Winds coming from the northwest, especially during the harvest season, carry pollutants from Punjab and Haryana towards Delhi. On Sunday, 69 farm fires were reported from Punjab and 127 from Haryana.

On Sunday, the air quality improved slightly to 233. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

Hundreds of farmers in the region set fires to their farms after the paddy crop is harvested as it is the quickest and easiest, but harmful, way of getting rid of stalks that remain on the ground after the harvest. The air quality early warning system bulletin said, “The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming fromEast/Northeast directions in Delhi with wind speed 8-20 kmph. A generally cloudy sky and light rain/ thundershowers are expected on Monday.” On Tuesday, the wind is expected to blow from the southeast at a speed of around 8-16 kmph, it said, adding that very light rain is expected. On both days, the AQI is expected to be ‘moderate’.

The relief will be short-lived, with the wind direction changing on Wednesday and the pollution levels are expected to reach the ‘poor’ range again. The day temperatures, meanwhile, are also expected to see a slight dip.

According to IMD, on Sunday the maximum temperature was recorded as 34.6 degrees Celsius, a degree above normal, while the minimum was 21.6 degrees Celsius, two degrees above normal. The maximum temperature on Monday and Tuesday is expected to be 32 degrees Celsius, while the minimum is expected to be 20 and 19 degrees Celsius.

Thereafter, a gradual increase is expected with the week ending at a maximum of about 34 degrees Celsius, accompanied by clear skies.

On Saturday, Delhi L-G VK Saxena wrote to the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana, asking them to ensure that fires in their states are controlled. While calling Punjab the only “non-performing outlier” among the states that impact Delhi’s air quality , Saxena also expressed worry over the rising cases in Haryana.

He pointed out how that incidents of crop residue burning in Haryana between September 15 and October 11 had reached 340. “…Last year Haryana performed exemplarily as far as controlling burning of parali is concerned and had helped mitigate the problem, which primarily occurred due to smoke/smog from Punjab” Saxena stated in his communication to Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar.