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New Delhi: Delhi continued to struggle under heavy smog on Saturday. A thick greyish haze enveloped the air as AQI continued to remain in the severe category for yet another day. The AQI on the day was 398, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). From the 'Very Poor' category at 4 pm, the city's AQI slipped to 'Severe' category by 5 pm and was recorded as 401 and 3 hours later it was even worse at 407.
According to a report in the Times of India, experts have said that the national capital is not expected to get any respite from bad AQI till at least December 22. In fact conditions are expected to worsen on Sunday.
Following the poor conditions in Delhi, the Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa warned that strict action will be taken against illegal construction and industrial activities happening in the city. Already GRAP-4 is in force in the city, which does not permit construction and also bans certain industrial activities.
According to Sirsa, of the 3,052 industries inspected across the national capital, 612 were found to be violating the norms and 180 were polluting units. He said that a crackdown on these industries will start on Sunday and violators will be penalised severely.
According to the experts, the absence of sunlight kept visibility low and also a condition called temperature inversion prevailed across the city. This condition happens when cooler air near the ground is trapped under warmer air above, which does not let pollutants disperse.
Several monitoring stations across Delhi-NCR recorded AQI above 400. While the overall AQI in the city was 393, it was the highest in Chandni Chowk at 455. Next the AQI at Jahangirpuri was 444, while it was 438 in Anand Vihar. In Wazirpur also the AQI remained in the severe category at 449.
At most other monitoring stations, like Dwarka Sector 8, Vivek Vihar, Narela, Patparganj, Mundka and others, the AQI was above 400, thus firmly sitting in the 'Severe' category. In fact on Sunday, more than 20 weather monitoring stations in the city recorded an AQI above 400. The AQI in Delhi-NCR has remained above 300 for the entire December month.
Experts have warned that such high AQI can cause severe respiratory problems in people, especially the children and the elderly.
Meanwhile, the fog and the poor AQI, which caused smog in several parts of the country, also led to reduction in visibility. Several airports across the region saw flight disruptions due to poor visibility.
As very dense fog prevailed in Agra, Gwalior and Halwara in Punjab, the visibility was reported to be zero. At the Amritsar, Hindon and Adampur airports, the visibility was reported to be 50 metres, 100 metres and 250 metres respectively. These places also saw dense fog last night.
With moderate fog in Delhi, Gaya and Ranchi, the visibility at the airport was 300 metres. The Palam airport reported lowest visibility of 0300m in moderate fog during 10 pm to 12:30 am on Saturday and Sunday which gradually improved to 0600m in Shallow Fog with east-southeasterly 7kmph. Safdarjung reported lowest visibility of 200 metres amid moderate fog, between 1:30 am to 2:30 am this morning. The visibility gradually improved to 500 metres at 5:30 am on Sunday morning, as shallow fog continued to prevail in the region.
However several flights were delayed at the Delhi Airport, and many others had to be cancelled due to prevailing weather conditions in entire North India, reported PTI.
