New Delhi (29/10/2019): Municipal Corporation of Delhi today began sprinkling water on the roads and trees in Central Delhi area with an aim to curb the menace of pollution in the wake of Diwali.
Similar exercise had been attempted in November, 2017, when the NGT ordered 75,000 litres of water for sprinkling down in Delhi’s Income Tax Office area over the course of an hour.
Unfortunately, data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed that the pollution levels went down only for five hours before spiking back up again.
Post-Diwali, the Air Quality Index in Lodhi road was docking at 306, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category.
The major pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 were at 257 and 249 respectively in Mathura road area.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
To combat the menace of air pollution, the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has announced the implementation of Odd-Even scheme from November 4 to 15, 2019, stating that smog from nearby states due to the burning of crop residue is one of the major causes of pollution in the region.
