Delhi's air remains 'poor' as GRAP comes into effect

new delhi: As Delhi's air continued to remain well above the "poor" mark on Wednesday, a day after it had briefly entered the "very poor" category, strict anti-pollution curbs directed by the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority will kick in from today.

However, in preparation, the Delhi government has left no stone unturned. As Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday emphasised the need to adopt alternative energy sources such as solar energy, Environment Minister Gopal Rai assured everyone that strict action will be taken against anyone found flouting anti-pollution and anti-dust measures whether it is the PWD or the MCDs.

In fact, Rai has already announced a fine of Rs 20 lakh each on the North MCD and the PWD in the last two days for flouting anti-pollution rules. However, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has gone on the offensive, accusing the Centre of not doing enough to curb pollution in the NCR. Health and Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday asserted that the Delhi government was serious about fighting pollution and implied that the neighbouring states were not. He said Delhi had shut thermal power plants in the last few years "as curbing pollution is high on our priority. And, we have written to the Union power minister, seeking closing of polluting thermal power stations around the national Capital".

And even as the Delhi government complied with EPCA directions, banning all electricity generators run on fossil fuel from Thursday; Gurugram's heavy reliance on diesel gensets in light of frequent power cuts is well documented and now traders in Noida have also demanded that their state government provide them with alternative energy sources with the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) coming into effect.

But according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to improve to the moderate category by

Thursday.

The body had earlier predicted that wind directions and speed would have improved the AQI by Sunday.

The city recorded a 24-hour air quality index (AQI) of 276. It was 300 on Tuesday. Anything above 300 is considered "very poor" or worse.

But experts have attributed the slight dip in pollution to an improvement in the ventilation index, which is the speed at which pollutants can be dispersed.

The Minister of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, said "relatively lesser stubble burning was observed" around Haryana, Punjab, and neighboring border regions on Tuesday. The fire count was 357. On Wednesday, the minimum temperature was 23.7 degrees Celsius.

In addition to strict measures that the Delhi government has already taken against polluters, a specific campaign was launched by the chief minister in view of the increased risk polluted air poses in times of a respiratory disease pandemic.