No crackers, please: Officials plead as city air gets deadlier

Ahead of Diwali, experts called for festivities sans fireworks as the air quality continued to be worsened due to presence of pollutants.

Nearly all the monitoring stations active in the city said that the PM 2.5 and PM 10 (ultra fine pollutants) were several times above the safe limit of 60 and 100 micro grams per cubic metre keeping the city air in “very poor” category.

For the second consecutive day, pollutants (PM 10) in Anand Vihar shot up nine times above the safe limit when checked in real-time around 12 pm as per the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

The Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Punjabi Bagh and R.K. Puram stations had the air quality index (AQI) in the severe category which affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases.

According to analysis by SAFAR, “wind, which is already stagnant, is likely to turn easterly during the Diwali period. This, coupled with falling temperature, is likely to worsen the pollution level in the city. This scenario is likely to hold the locally generated firecrackers emissions within the NCT, slowing down dispersion, resulting in increased levels of PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollution unlike in 2015 when winds swept away the larger share,” a report prepared by a team of SAFAR, led by Gufran Beig, said.

Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) Anumita Roychowdhury said that the carcinogenic element in the smoke emitted by firecrackers may cause diseases ranging from cancer to imbalance of hormones.

Meanwhile, in a bid to curb the rising air pollution in the national capital, the Delhi government will install air purification systems at five major intersections of the city within two months as a pilot project. Delhi transport minister Satyendar Jain said a mist fountain will also be installed at one major intersection to purify the air.

“We have identified five major intersections in Delhi where comprehensive air treatment systems will be installed. If the pilot project is successful, it will be expanded to other intersections as well,” Mr Jain said.

He added that the system has been designed by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) along with the IIT-Bombay.

The five locations where the systems will be installed are Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Kashmere Gate, ITO and IIT Delhi/AIIMS.

“It is a modular system and can be scaled based on the space available at the intersections. It can even be installed on the central verge of the road,” Mr Jain said. He added that a mist fountain will come up at one location.