Pollution emergency! Najafgarh 500, Anand Vihar 495… What is the AQI in which area of ​​Delhi in the afternoon?

New Delhi: Delhi has turned into a gas chamber at this time. The air of the country’s capital has become so poisonous that breathing it means smoking a large amount of cigarettes in a day. In view of air pollution, GRAP 4 has been implemented in Delhi, in which many restrictions have been imposed. With the implementation of GRAP-4, physical classes have been stopped for all students except class 10th and 12th and classes will run in online mode till further orders. At the same time, many things like construction work, diesel generators have been banned.

Why does pollution increase in Delhi every year in winter?
The problem of air pollution in Delhi has become a serious challenge. Every year during the winter season, the level of Air Quality Index (AQI) reaches dangerous levels. One of the major reasons for this is the “temperature inversion” which causes the amount of pollution to increase. Normally, as we go up with altitude, the air gets colder. But in winters, the reverse happens. The air near the ground gets colder while the layer above it gets warmer. In this situation, the layer of warm air acts like a bottle cap over us, not allowing the lower cold air to rise.

This causes the pollution to remain trapped around us and not disperse. This situation is called temperature inversion. When this situation occurs, the air pollution level worsens as the pollution particles are unable to travel in the atmosphere. In a region like Delhi, where pollution is already a big issue, temperature inversion worsens the situation.

Incidents of stubble burning in Punjab also contribute to this problem, but they act as conduits, not the root cause of the problem. Every winter, Delhi faces severe levels of pollution and the main reason for this is temperature inversion. But, the question is, when temperature inversion occurs, why does it affect only Delhi? There are many reasons behind this. Firstly, the smoke generated by stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab flows towards Delhi, increasing the pollution level. Apart from this, vehicular pollution in Delhi is also a major contributor. Apart from private cars, Delhi is a major commercial hub so there is a large number of trucks and other commercial vehicles.

These restrictions have been imposed in Grape-4

1. Entry of trucks banned in Delhi (except trucks carrying essential goods/providing essential services). However, all LNG/CNG/Electric/BS-VI diesel trucks will be allowed to enter Delhi.
2. Light commercial vehicles registered outside Delhi (except vehicles used for essential goods or services) other than EVs/CNG/BS-VI diesel are not allowed to enter Delhi.
3. Strict ban on the movement of BS-IV and below diesel-powered medium goods vehicles (MGVs) and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) registered in Delhi. However, vehicles used for essential goods or services are exempted from this.
4. Restrictions on construction and development activities for public projects like highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines, telecommunications, just like Grape-3.
5. State governments of NCR and GNCTD can decide to close physical classes up to class VI, IX and class XI and conduct classes in online mode.
6. State governments/GNCTD of NCR may decide to allow public, municipal and private offices to function at 50% capacity and allow the rest to work from home.
7. Central government offices may decide to allow employees to work from home.
8. State governments may consider additional emergency measures such as closing colleges/educational institutions, shutting down non-emergency commercial activities, allowing vehicles to ply on odd-even basis based on registered numbers.
9. Citizens may be appealed to follow the Citizen Charter. Apart from the Citizen Charter of GRAP-I, GRAP-II and GRAP-III, assist in implementation to maintain and improve air quality in the area.
10. Children, elderly people suffering from heart and respiratory diseases, people suffering from brain related or any chronic disease may be advised to avoid going out.