Delhi entered the severe category with the increasing pollution levels and schools will remain closed

A day after the air quality in Delhi entered the severe category for the first time this season, causing the government to implement mitigation measures like banning the use of older cars, a heavy haze persisted over the city on Friday.

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Declining air quality

Visibility was reduced to 500 meters at Palam and 600 meters at Safdarjung due to the rapidly declining air quality and fog. "Today's visibility is at its lowest point. An official from the India Metrological Department stated that no significant change is anticipated later in the day either because wind speeds are unlikely to exceed five kilometers per hour.

Schools will remain closed  on Friday and Saturday

Additionally, due to the increasing pollution levels, schools for students in Classes 5 and lower were forced to close for two days on Friday and Saturday.

The average Air Quality Index (AQI) at 8 a.m. on Friday was 464 (severe). At 7:05 a.m., Mundka and Bawana nearly reached the upper limit of the AQI at 498 and 496. Every station fell into the severe category, except Dilshad Garden (367). Greater Noida recorded an AQI of 473, while Faridabad recorded 442.

On Thursday, the pollution levels increased after Delhi's 24-hour average AQI of 392 at 4 p.m. fell just short of the severe threshold. Just before midnight, the AQI average jumped to 427. Mundka (453) and Anand Vihar (449) topped the list.

The National Capital Region (NCR)'s Greater Noida experienced the worst air quality on Thursday, with an AQI reading of 402 (severe) at 4pm. With scores of 297 and 286, the AQIs in Gurugram and Ghaziabad fell into the poor category.

Wednesday's Delhi Air Quality Index was 362 (very poor) prior to the influence of nearby sources of pollution being intensified by calm surface-level winds. Pollutants in Delhi contributed significantly to the city's poor air quality, even as farm fires in Punjab and Haryana kept getting worse and raising PM2.5 levels.

Deteriorating air quality is somehow caused by farm fires

The Capital was experiencing a northwesterly current on Thursday, which brings smoke from farm fires from Punjab and Haryana—which on Wednesday reported 1,543 farm fires—into Delhi. There were 1,556 farm fires reported in the two states on Tuesday. A week ago, satellites had tracked 827 fires; now, they were almost twice as many.

On November 1st of last year, 2,477 fires were reported in 2021, 3,500 in 2020, and 1,978 in the two states. The data on stubble fires varies from year to year because of variations in harvesting and cropping practices.

The main air pollutant in Delhi on Thursday was PM2.5, a byproduct of combustion sources. At 10pm, Delhi's PM2.5 levels reached their peak of 242.7µg/m³. At 10 p.m., the PM10 reached its peak of 412 µg/m³. India's safe limits for PM2.5 and PM10 were exceeded by more than four times. India has relaxed pollution regulations than those around the world.

The safe threshold for PM2.5 in India is 60µg/m³. At 15 µg/m³, the World Health Organization's (WHO) standard is one-fourth of that.

When the AQI is expected to enter the severe category, Grap Stage 3 is supposed to activate. The government came under fire for responding to the pollution wave instead of preventing it.

Temperatures will further decline in upcoming days

Given that farm fires were still far from at their worst, the air quality was only going to get worse. Additionally, the forecast called for even lower temperatures in the days leading up to Diwali.

In an effort to strengthen anti-pollution curbs, the city's Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) was implemented in Stage 3 on Thursday by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). Among the limitations is a prohibition on private building and demolition, with the exception of non-polluting trades like carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and interior design.

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