With deteriorating air quality in Delhi, Hussain on Tuesday directed various departments to combat air pollution
The Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research reported an AQI in the 'very poor' category
Further deterioration of air quality is forecast in the coming days with PM10 to reach 330 and PM2.5 to 151
The PM10 level in Delhi stood at 266 and the PM 2.5 level was recorded at 110
Crops are burned during this season and millions of fireworks go off during the Diwali festival, usually pushing air pollution to hazardous levels
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'
The Bharat Stage VI (or BS-VI) emission norm would come into force from April 1, 2020 across the country
According to CPCB, the situation is not set to change any sooner, while it may only get worse towards Diwali
Shut coal, biomass industries, minimise use of private vehicles, the CPCB task force has further added
Among children with asthma, air-pollution reduction was consistently associated with reductions in respiratory symptoms
PM2.5 in Delhi went up to 753 micrograms per cubic meters in areas like Pitampura, which is almost 12 times the safe limit
The figure was recorded by Delhi Pollution Control Committee's real-time air quality monitor
Not a single day in the4 month long winter season was noted under the 'Good' air quality category
To help mitigate concern on air pollution, state-owned thermal power giant NTPC would procure farm stubble for burning in its thermal units, blending close to 10 per cent in the fuel mix, power ministry officials said. This comes in wake on worsening air conditiond across North India, attributed in large measure to burning of crop stubble by farmers in Punjab and Haryana (and western UP) at the onset of winter."NTPC will float a tender to buy farm stubble at Rs 5,500 a tonne for its plants. This will help farmers earn around Rs 11,000 per acre from the sale of stubble/straw pellets," said R K Singh, minister of state for power and new & renewable energy, in a media interaction.On the likely bidders, Singh said a new market will be created, under which service providers will bid after making arrangements with farmers."Stubble pellets procured for power plants might not be used for this season but the system will be in place," said A K Bhalla, the ministry's secretary. He said use ..
A not-for-profit foundation is teaching cost efficient and scalable methods of stubble burning to the farmers in North India for addressing air quality issue before this winter
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask for compensation for farmers attempting to switch over from stubble burning
To make matters worse, four fire-related incidents were reported in the capital in the last 24 hours including a fire at Bhalswa landfill site
The firefighting operations continued at the Bhalswa landfill site, however, it's effect were visible on the air quality
Delhi's environment minister held a multi-stakeholder review meet and directed all officers and agencies to be in "war mode" to combat air pollution
Delhi's Air Quality Index was recorded the worst in the season so far