Delhi, Gurgaon Facing The Worst November Smog In Many Years, Situation Likely To Remain Same In Coming Days

Delhiites woke up to apocalyptic grey skies as a heavy smog hung over the city, reducing visibility to its lowest for the month of November in many years. The air quality was so poor that it was comparable to the post-Diwali spike in pollution.

The air quality index for 4pm on November 2 was 432, in the "severe" category, while the index on October 31 (the day after Diwali) was 445.

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The Met office said visibility at the IGI Airport was in the range of 300-500m - on a par with dense-fog days in December and January, which was the worst the city has witnessed in November, in many years.

Experts have called for an "emergency response" as the air emergency response" as the air quality has been in "severe" or "very poor" levels for more than a week now.

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Scientists at air quality monitoring agencies said the very high levels of pollution were due to the cumulative impact of crop residue burning in neighbouring states and pollutants emitted on Diwali.

"Look at the large scale crop stubble burning in Punjab. NASA images show smoke has spread all over the region. The pollutants cannot disperse because of the calm conditions," said a scientist from DPCC.

"The crop fires have been going on for weeks now. Also, the firecrackers burst on Diwali are still hanging in the air. There is no immediate intervention to address this. We need the government to take emergency action now. How else will the levels come down?" said Anumita Roy Chowdhury from the Centre for Science and Environment.

Some scientists in pollution monitoring agencies even suggested that primary schools should be closed so that children are not exposed to such high pollution levels.

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According to officials at the Met department, the situation is going to get worse in the coming days. "If it doesn't rain or wind speed doesn't increase, the situation is likely to get worse. Better sunshine can also make a difference. It is expected that sunshine will be a little better on Sunday onwards," said an official of Met department.

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According to the data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), concentration of PM2.5 has constantly increased since Diwali (October 31). While the 24-hour average concentration of PM2.5 was 212.96g/m? on October 30 (from 2pm on October 29 to 2pm on October 30), it increased to 217.45g/m? on October 31.

The level further rose to 328.15g/m? on November 1 and reached 381.50g/m? on November 2. As per WHO, concentration of PM2.5 shouldn't be more than 60g/m?.

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However, other air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and ozone remained below the prescribed limit. While Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) blamed rise in air pollution in Delhi for conditions in Millennium City, experts said the authorities have not taken enough measures to deal with the problem, primarily by not being able to check stubble burning at farms.

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"There are emergency measures which authorities should have taken after Gurgaon and its neighbouring cities reported an increase in concentration of PM2.5. These could have included closing down polluting industries for 15-20 days, reducing vehicular traffic in the city, making changes in school timings and issuing precautionary advice to children, the elderly and pregnant women," said Niranjan Raje, a former member of the expert appraisal committee at the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, and a member of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).