Heena Sharma Blog

Air quality in Delhi and nearby areas on Tuesday remained in the "poor" category as winds speed dipped. The air quality in Delhi-NCR is expected to remain in the "moderate" and "poor" categories for the next two days. At 9:30 am, Delhi's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 218 as compared to Monday's AQI of 215. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered "poor", 301-400 "very poor" and 401-500 severe". The concentration of particlate matter (PM) 2.5 was at 96 while the PM10 level was recorded at 154. However, weather experts said, pollution levels are likely to enter the 'severe' zone again on Thursday due to a gradual dip in wind speed over the next two-three days. Neighbouring Ghaziabad (256), Greater Noida (218), Noida (227) recorded their air quality in the 'poor' category, while Gurgaon's AQI (138) remained in the 'moderate' category for the second consecutive day

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said there is no need of the odd-even road rationing scheme now as the pollution levels have come down. The Delhi government brought the scheme into effect from November 4 as the city's air quality plunged into the "severe" category. The scheme concluded on November 15 with Kejriwal saying it could be extended if required. He had said that a final decision on extension will be taken on Monday. "The sky is clear now, there is no need of it (scheme)", he said in a press conference. Over 5,000 violators of the rule were fined with Rs 4,000 each during the scheme. The air quality in Delhi improved marginally on Monday but remained in the "poor" category for the second consecutive day. At 9 am on Monday, the air quality index (AQI) in the national capital stood at 207 against an AQI of 254 at the same time on Sunday. Read More

There seems to be no end to the woes of people residing in Delhi and other parts of north India. On Monday morning, Delhi air quality was in 'severe-plus emergency' category. SAFAR, the government-run air quality monitoring and weather forecasting agency, said Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) was 708 at 6:30 am, which is 14 times the safe level of 0-50.. Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad also saw their air quality in the severe-plus emergency overall category. NASA satellite imagery showed vast swathes of the northern plains, covering Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, blanketed under a smoky haze. Weather experts said any significant improvement in the situation is highly unlikely unless there is rainfall, which may occur on November 7 and 8 To tackle this, the odd-even scheme kick started today, with only even-numbered non-transport vehicles allowed on Delhi roads on the first day of the exercise. The impact of the scheme remains to be seen. The third