Delhi continues to struggle for clean air as AQI slips to 'very poor'

The city recorded a decline in the pollution levels on Saturday and Sunday with the air quality moving from the 'very poor' to 'poor' category owing to favourable wind speed.

Business Standard : Pollution in New Delhi on Monday morning fell to "very poor" after being "poor" as the air quality index (AQI) slipped to 346 at 7:00 am, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The AQI in adjoining areas of Noida, Gurgaon was registered at 315 and 355 respectively.

An AQI between 201 and 300 is 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, and 401-500 severe. Above 500 is severe-plus emergency category.

Air quality in the city improved from "very poor" to "poor" on Saturday and Sunday because of wind speed.

It was a cold breezy Monday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 16 degrees Celsius.

Humidity was recorded at 66 per cent.

On Sunday, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 28 degrees Celsius and 16 degrees Celsius respectively.

Meanwhile, acting on a slew of directions from the Supreme Court, implementing agencies have taken "major action" at 13 pollution hot spots in the national capital, including closing 23 polluting industrial units, over the last three days, officials said on Sunday.

Municipal corporations have lifted 400 metric tonnes of construction and demolition waste and 1,200 metric tonne garbage during the period, they said.

After the apex court directed a three-member Monitoring Committee to oversee the implementation of pollution-control measures, its chairman Bhure Lal visited the hotspots of Wazirpur, Ashok Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Dwarka and R.K.Puram on November 8 and Narela, Bawana, Jahangirpuri, and Mundka on November 9, according to the officials.

Relief for Delhi-NCR as air quality improves to 'very poor' category

Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad too recorded 'very poor' overall air quality.

In a major relief for the residents of Delhi-NCR, the air quality on Wednesday morning further improved. The air quality index in the national capital dropped from yesterday's 365 to 356 at 6:30 am. The Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, said, "The AQI is back to 'very poor' category after rapidly recovering from 'severe' largely due to faster boundary layer winds (40 kmph)."

Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad too recorded 'very poor' overall air quality.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, and 401-500 severe. Above 500 is severe-plus emergency category.

The India Meteorological Department said winds gusting up to 25 kmph were flushing out pollutants faster.

"There are good chances of rains in northwest India on Wednesday night and Thursday due to a western disturbance. The precipitation will cover Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh," head of IMD's regional weather forecasting centre of Kuldeep Srivastava, said.

Taking a grim view of the surge in pollution levels, the Supreme Court on Monday slammed authorities for failing to curb pollution in Delhi-NCR and said they have left people to die.

Passing a slew of other directions to prevent the rise in air pollution levels, it imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on anyone carrying out construction and demolition activity in Delhi-NCR, and a fine of Rs 5,000 on offenders involved in garbage or waste burning. The Bench said it had “no sympathy for farmers indulging in it (stubble burning) as they are putting lives of others at risk”.

The odd-even scheme, which kickstarted on Monday has entered Day 3 with only even-numbered non-transport vehicles allowed on Delhi roads. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has claimed that due to the odd-even rule, 15 lakh vehicles have been taken off the road.

Business Standard

Air purifier, pollution mask sales spike as Delhi battles health emergency

While Hindware is expecting sale of its air purifiers to double this year, brands like Xiaomi, Blue Star and Daikin, too, are expecting significant rise in sales.

Business Standard : As air quality in the Capital continues to deteriorate, sale of preventive items like air purifiers and pollution masks have spiked significantly. Manufacturers are observing a 30 to 100 per cent rise in demand compared to the same period last year.

While Hindware is expecting sale of its air purifiers to double this year, brands like Xiaomi, Blue Star and Daikin, too, are expecting significant rise in sales. Haier, which has recently launched its air purifying products for home, is already observing a spike in demand from the markets in Delhi and adjoining regions that contribute over 80 per cent of the total market volumes. Rakesh Kaul, president, CEO and whole-time director at Somany Home Innovation, a Hindware group firm, said that over the past three to four years, the degrading air quality and increasing concern towards health issues has fuelled sales of air purifiers and pollution masks in the country.

But with the current situation in Delhi NCR, where schools are being shut and there is an increase in the number of health-related issues being reported, there has been a significant growth in the air purifier market.

Firms are not only focusing on meeting the heightened demand as a public health emergency is underway in the region, they are also taking measures to ease the purchasing process. Some of the firms are even concerned about the side effects of complete dependence on artificial measures like air purifying machines and masks as lack of any holistic measures to curb air pollution is haunting citizens.

Panasonic, for example, is offering extended warranty and consumer finance options to make purchases accessible and affordable, said Syed Moonis Ali Alvi, general manager for air purifier business at the Japanese firm. A Xiaomi spokesperson said the company has set up a dedicated page on its shopping portal for air purifiers and pollution masks.

Management of other firms like Blue Star and Nirvana masks are rather concerned about the unavailability of natural solutions to the growing problem. The deteriorating quality of air that began with fire cracker pollutions on Diwali last week, has now got worse.

B Thiagarajan, joint managing director at Blue Star, said that while installing air purifiers at homes, offices and in cars help in reducing pollution levels inside the premises, it is the ultimate step when no other options are available.