Increasing the frequency of metro trains, hiring private buses, and spraying a ‘dust suppressant’ is how the Delhi government plans to tackle the city’s deteriorating air quality. With Delhi’s air quality having dipped to the ‘very poor’ category Sunday, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Monday that actions as per stage II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) have kicked in. “There are 13 hotspots identified in Delhi, where pollution levels are higher than in other places. Now, monitoring shows that in addition to those 13, there are eight other points where the AQI was over 300 — Shadipur, ITO, Mandir Marg, Nehru Nagar, Patparganj, Sonia Vihar, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Moti Bagh. At these spots, MCD Deputy Commissioners have been directed to deploy special teams to inspect and identify local sources,” he said. On Monday, the AQI was 263, in the ‘poor’ category, better than the 313 recorded on Sunday. A forecast issued by the Air Quality Early Warning System on Monday said the air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from October 24 to 26. Under GRAP Stage II, public transport services are to be intensified in the city. “Delhi Metro has been directed that where the interval between trains is 7 to 8 minutes, that be reduced to 5 to 6 minutes, and where the interval is 5 to 6 minutes, it be reduced to 2 to 3 minutes, so that more people use public transport. The DTC has been directed to start the process of hiring private buses to augment the existing fleet,” Rai. Starting October 26, the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign to get people to switch their engines off at signals will begin. Effect of stubble burning minimal On why the AQI worsened on Sunday and the impact of stubble burning, Rai said, “It is getting colder and the wind speed is reducing. There has been no major impact of stubble burning. The increase in AQI is because of the cold and wind speed.” VK Soni, scientist at the India Meteorological Department, also said the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s pollution levels was negligible. “It looks like the main reason (for the deterioration in AQI) is that during the daytime, some winds were there, but at night, it is becoming calm. There are no winds and that helps in the accumulation of pollutants. The stubble contribution is very minimal, almost negligible since the fire counts are not much,” he said. On Monday, Punjab recorded 152 instances of stubble burning, while Haryana saw 29, according to data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). From September 15 to October 23, Punjab recorded 1,946 instances of crop residue burning which is less than the 4,598 such instances recorded over the same period last year, 6,058 instances in 2021, and 13,894 instances over the same period in 2020. Similarly, in Haryana, there have been 743 instances till October 23 this year, lower than the 1,110 recorded over the same period in 2022, 1,726 in 2021, and 1,560 in 2020. V K Sehgal, Principal Scientist, IARI, said, “We are seeing substantially lower counts compared to the past two years. This time, we had three rainfall events which could have masked certain events, but these happened last year too. The real picture will emerge in another few days.” Data from SAFAR shows that last year, the daily peak contribution of stubble burning to PM 2.5 levels in Delhi was 34% on November 3, lower than 48% in 2021, 42% in 2020, and 44% in 2019. Data was not available from SAFAR on Monday on the contribution of stubble burning to PM 2.5 levels so far this year. The real-time source apportionment study underway in Delhi to determine sources of PM 2.5, also did not display any data on its online dashboard on Monday.
