The air quality worsened in the Capital due to changing weather conditions and expected to deteriorate further after Deepavali, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Saturday.
The city is seeing a rise in the pollution levels since the Dasara celebrations on October 12, which prompted the government to impose curbs on construction activities and notify a complete ban on firecrackers.
Air pollution spikes in Delhi and many other parts of north India every winter mainly due to meteorological factors such lower wind speed combined with bursting of firecrackers during festivals and stubble burning in neighbouring States.
According to the Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to stay in the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ zone for the next week. An air quality index (AQI) reading between 201 and 300 is termed ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
Delhi’s average AQI reading stood at 278 at 4.p.m. on Saturday, slightly down from 292 a day earlier, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Mr. Rai said government officials have inspected 2,764 construction sites since October 7 under its anti-dust pollution drive, realising ₹17.40 lakh from 76 violators.
“A total of 523 teams have been formed for this campaign, including officials from 13 departments. These teams are inspecting construction sites across Delhi and taking action against violations. All teams have been instructed to conduct continuous inspections,” the Minister said.
However, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva slammed the Minister over the inspection numbers, terming the exercise mere “tokenism”. “If 523 teams conducted 2,764 inspections in 12 days, it means each team did one inspection every two days,” he said.
Published - October 20, 2024 12:49 am IST
