Air quality has improved: Vardhan

NEW DELHI: Amid all recent political and legal crossovers, the Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan asserted that the air quality in the national capital was improving. Echoing his view, the Meteorological Department predicted that the smog will be clear on Tuesday as wind speed has increased.

"There is a declining trend in the levels of Particulate Matter (PM) at present, indicating an improvement in air quality due to the efforts made by implementing agencies," said Harsh Vardhan.

The minister also said that there was a decline in PM10 values – from 712.1 to 566.6 micrograms and decline in PM2.5 levels from 480 to 385.7 micrograms at 2 PM on Monday. Even with this trend, it is expected that the decline in PM levels will continue and air quality is likely to fall back in the severe category.

Vardhan also pointed out that the present air quality in Delhi NCR has been in the Severe Plus category and emergency conditions due to adverse weather conditions because of western disturbances, stubble burning and high levels of relative humidity.

"Initially the conditions started on November 7 at 6 am and declined to severe category (concentration less than 500 micrograms/m3 for PM10 and less than 300 micrograms/m3 for PM2.5) on November 11 at 3 in the afternoon. Later, the level has gone up again because of adverse weather conditions, which is further improving now," the minister added.

Meanwhile, the MeT department asserted that the wind speed of Delhi on Monday was 8km/h which was "zero" on Sunday. The department also predicted that by the end of this week the wind speed will become 16 km/h which will take away the smog out of Delhi.

The experts earlier found that this year the wind speed was below average which made the condition of Delhi worse. The stubble burning at the adjacent states and other city pollution sources made Delhi a 'gas chamber' this year.