As Delhi has been witnessing poor air quality for the past few days, its adjoining areas including Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are also recording ‘severe’ or ‘poor’ air quality as the Air Quality Index(AQI) in most of the areas is above 400.
Delhi, along with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are currently having the most polluted cities in India.
One of the major reasons on why the air of these cities are so highly polluted is being attributed to stubble burning by the farmers of Punjab and the current weather conditions which does not help in speedy dispersal of the pollutants from these areas.
An AQI between zero 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”.
Top 10 polluted cities in India: Check full list
City: AQI
Delhi, India: 559
Sonipat, Haryana: 497
Faridabad, Haryana: 489
Bhiwadi, Haryana: 485
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh: 485
Noida, Uttar Pradesh: 481
Sirsa, Haryana: 474
Hisar, Haryana: 473
Rohtak, Haryana: 460
Gurugram, Haryana: 410
SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, had earlier said stubble burning accounted for 32 per cent of the PM2.5 pollution in the capital on Wednesday.
PM2.5 are lung-damaging fine particles that are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter and can travel deep into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs and entering the bloodstream.
Transport-level winds blow in the lowest two layers of the atmosphere — the troposphere and stratosphere — and carry smoke from farm fires to the national capital region.
Earlier today, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced anti-pollution curbs to control the pollution situation in the national capital. He announced that primary schools will remain closed in the city from tomorrow.
He also ensured that the government is taking all possible measures to control the pollution situation. Kejriwal said the Delhi government is also mulling whether the odd-even scheme for vehicles should be implemented in the national capital.
(With inputs from agencies)
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