Delhi Air Quality To Improve From November 7

Delhi, which has been compared to a gas chamber due to high air pollution, will see an improvement in air quality in the next few days.

The meteorological department has predicted a significant improvement in the city's air quality around November 7.

"According to the wind forecast, there will be gradual improvement of smog-related low visibility on Thursday and Friday to about 1,200m. However, a high accumulation of pollutants in the atmosphere may hamper the visibility on Thursday morning," said an official.

By November 6 or 7, winds of 10-15 km per hour are expected to set in, which will bring significant improvement in smog conditions.

The aftereffect of Diwali, when people use firecrackers, is proving to be nightmarish for the people of Delhi.

Even four days after Diwali, the city is engulfed in hazardous levels of pollution and reduced visibility.

What's making the condition worse is the negligible wind speed to disperse the pollutants caused by firecrackers.

The ideal particulate matter (pm) of 10 has reached toxic levels of 999. For context, that is more than 10 times higher than what is considered safe to breathe. The pm 2.5 rose to 743.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday the state government will take strong steps to tackling the problem of pollution, which has been growing at an alarming pace.

Scientists at air quality monitoring agencies said the very high levels of pollution were due to the cumulative impact of crop residue burning in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana and pollutants emitted on Diwali.

"Look at the large-scale crop stubble burning in Punjab. NASA images show smoke has spread all over the region. The pollutants cannot disperse because of the calm conditions," said a scientist from Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

Anumita Roy Chowdhury from the Centre for Science and Environment said, "The crop fires have been going on for weeks now. Also, the firecrackers burst on Diwali are still hanging in the air. There is no immediate intervention to address this. We need the government to take emergency action now."

The Delhi High Court observed last year that living in the national capital was like being in a "gas chamber". It asked the Centre and the Delhi government to take measures to cut air pollution in the city.