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As Delhi & NCR gasp, Centre calls emergency meeting of States
-Daily Pioneer

Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Saturday turned into a gas chamber with the pollution levels reaching an all-time high, leading to burning of eyes, breathing problems and choked throats forcing people to stay indoors to avoid the hazardous toxic air. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who said that the national Capital had become like a “gas chamber” due to the pollution, met Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave and sought the Centre’s urgent intervention to deal with the challenge. He also appealed to people to restrict use of private vehicles and opt for public transport.

After the meeting, Dave said the Centre has called an  emergency meeting of Environment Ministers of all neighbouring States on Monday to curb stubble burning.

“There is an emergency situation in Delhi. The situation is bad, particularly for children, patients, women and the elderly. We need to take immediate steps to deal with the situation,” Dave said, adding he was also exploring the possibility of calling a meeting of Chief Ministers of all neighbouring States on the issue.

“There are five reasons triggering air pollution that include use of firewood, coal, diesel, petrol and burning of agricultural waste.

We have to find solution to address the problem... If I don’t minimise use of my four cars and expect other people to use cycles, that should not be happen. We should collectively come under self-regulation,” he said, adding, “We need to collectively address all issues and improve air quality. We should not indulge in political blame game.”

Asked whether the Centre would issue a health advisory, Dave said people are already aware of the situation. “If need be, one will be issued after consultation with the Health Ministry,” he added.

On his part, Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung also called a high-level meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday. “The Lt-Governor has called for a high-level meeting to discuss the serious condition of air pollution in Delhi on Monday,” said an official statement from the LG’s office.

The high levels of pollution also badly affected the vehicular movement as smog brought down visibility to around 200 metres across the city, forcing motorists to slow down the speed. Monitoring agencies recorded ‘severe’ quality air even worse than post-Diwali day and advised people to avoid going outdoors.

The AAP Government will also take a call on whether it should close its schools on Monday. Both Dave and Kejriwal were in agreement that shutting down schools was not the solution when asked about the decision of the civic bodies to keep schools run by it closed for a day in view of pollution.

Many Delhiites who spoke to The Pioneer complained of breathing problems and itching in the eyes due to smog. On the other hand, experts ruled out any respite with the situation expected to continue for a couple of days. They said that the passing of ‘Western Disturbances’ over Himalayas made the conditions the worst in north India including Delhi. The air quality is continued to remain alarming in Delhi-NCR because of calm winds.

The average level of particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) was above 550 micrograms per cubic metre -- the “severe” category -- at all the pollution measuring centres including at Anand Vihar in east Delhi, Punjabi Bagh and Dwarka in the west, RK Puram in the South, Mandir Marg in central Delhi.

Air monitoring stations of DPCC have measured the levels of PM 2.5 at 665 µg/m3 in Mandir Marg area while 445 µg/m3 in RK Puram and 659 µg/m3 in Punjabi Bagh. PM 10 was recorded at 797 µg/m3, 738 µg/m3 and 870 µg/m3 at Mandir Marg, RK Puram and Punjabi Bagh respectively.

Meanwhile air stations of the US Embassy recorded the levels of PM 2.5 at 681 µg/m3 at RK Puram, 708 µg/m3 at Mandir Marg and 735 µg/m3 at ITO and that of PM 10 was recorded 999 µg/m3 at RK Puram, 999 µg/m3 at Mandir Marg and 314 µg/m3 at ITO.

The National Ambient Air Quality Index (NAAQI) recorded average concentration of PM10 at 482 µg/m3 and PM2.5 at 355 µg/m3.

Moreover, the advisory status of Air Quality Index is “severe” for next three days. The safe limits of these ultrafine particles are 60 and 100 respectively. Even the level of gaseous pollutants like NO2 breached the prescribed standards for human inhalation as per real-time readings.

Earlier, addressing a Press conference, Kejriwal said that Pollution level has increased so much in Delhi that vehicle restriction measures like odd-even will not be able to bring down smog as initial studies suggest that the “large scale” influx of pollutant-laden smoke from Punjab and Haryana has aggravated the situation.

He also said that the Delhi Government needs help from the Central Government in tackling pollution.

“I saw smoke across Punjab, Haryana during my visits. We need Centre’s help. We are hiring an agency in a week or two to study the sources of pollution in Delhi afresh,” he said.