New Delhi: Strong surface winds barrelled through Delhi and neighbouring areas on Monday, improving the air quality marginally — pushing it back to the margin of being "poor" after being "very poor" for days in a row even as Environment Minister Gopal Rai claimed credit to his government for the improvement, saying that their efforts had now borne fruits.
The city recorded its 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) at 311, down from 349 on Sunday. It was 374 on Saturday. Neighbouring Faridabad (330), Ghaziabad (254), Greater Noida (202), Gurgaon (310) and Noida (270) also recorded a slight improvement in the air quality.
So far, Monday has been the only day in November when the Palam Observatory reported "visibility of more than 3,000 m and such strong winds", he said.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences air quality monitor SAFAR said the AQI was recorded in the lower end of the "very poor" category on Monday, a "significant" improvement from the day before due to the low fire count and strong transport-level winds blowing from northwest direction dispersing pollutants. SAFAR said 909 farm fires accounted for 6 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution on Monday.
These winds are likely to continue on Tuesday, leading to further improvement in the air quality to the 'poor' category (if no increase in fire count), it said. The minimum and maximum temperatures were recorded at 27.5 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average and 11.4 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year.
Even though Rai claimed credit for this improvement, the Delhi government on Monday lifted the ban on construction and demolition activities in light of the hardships being faced by labourers. But at the same time, the ban on entry of trucks and mandated work from home was extended and the closure of schools has also been extended till further orders. In addition, Rai said various campaigns to check pollution had been extended and that 585 teams will strictly conduct inspections. Public transport infrastructure has also been beefed up.