Lowest AQI in 7 years the

day before Deepavali; air

to turn ‘severe’ tonight
My govt. is interested in saving human lives, not in doing politics over firecrackers, says Gopal Rai
after BJP’s attack on Delhi govt. over its cracker ban; three bad air days in city likely from Monday

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

T
he city recorded an
Air Quality Index
(AQI) of 259 on
Sunday as the ambient air
quality continued to re-
main in ‘poor’ category. It
was the lowest AQI record-
ed in Delhi a day before
Deepavali in the last seven
years, data available with
the Central Pollution Con-
trol Board (CPCB) showed.
However, SAFAR, a fore-
casting agency under the
Union Ministry of Earth
Sciences, has predicted the
air quality to turn ‘very A vendor sells coloured powder on the eve of Deepavali in Delhi on Sunday. AFP
poor’ on Monday and ‘sev-
ere’ on Tuesday consider- government’s decision to up to six months and a fine severe’ on Deepavali night
ing emissions from fire- ban firecrackers in the na- of ₹200 on those bursting and the following day,”
crackers and an increase in tional capital, saying “such crackers. read the forecast by SA-
the share of smoke from people” were “anti-reli- A total of 408 teams FAR. It added that fire
stubble burning. gious”. have been set up to imple- counts/emissions over the
Meanwhile, Delhi Envi- A petition by BJP MP Ma- ment the ban — 210 by Del- north-west region are gra-
ronment Minister Gopal noj Tiwari, seeking an ur- hi Police, 165 by Revenue dually increasing and their
Rai, on Sunday, said his go- gent hearing of a plea chal- Department and 33 by Del- impact on Delhi’s air quali-
vernment's priority is to lenging the blanket ban on hi Pollution Control ty is likely to increase (to
save human lives and it is firecrackers in Delhi, was Committee. 5%) due to favourable tran-
not interested in politics turned down by Supreme sport level wind flow. An
over firecrackers. Court on Thursday. Air quality forecast AQI between zero and 50 is
His statement came in “Some people even “For the next three days, considered “good”, 51 and
the backdrop of an attack moved the Supreme Court peak surface wind speed is 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and
by Gujarat BJP chief C.R. over the issue. There is no likely to be ‘calm to 5-10 200 “moderate”, 201 and
Paatil at the Delhi govern- scope for debate after the km/h’ causing weak dis- 300 “poor”, 301 and 400
ment a day earlier. Ad- apex court’s decision in persion [of air pollutants] “very poor”, and 401 and
dressing a rally in Gujarat the matter,” said Mr. Rai. and AQI is likely to be ‘very 500 “severe”. Last year,
on Saturday, Mr. Paatil hit On Wednesday, the En- poor’ on Monday (Deepa- the AQI a day before Dee-
out at Delhi Chief Minister vironment Minister had vali daytime). It is likely to pavali was
Arvind Kejriwal over his announced a jail term of worsen to ‘lower end of (With PTI inputs)