Delhi Air Quality Dips Again as Schools Reopen, Eight Trains Cancelled

NEW DELHI:
Air quality deteriorated in Delhi on Monday morning even as the city’s schools reopened after being shut down for four days due to pollution.
Visibility levels were also poor on Monday, leading to cancellation of eight trains in the capital. “Twenty-two trains have been rescheduled, 69 are arriving late and eight have been cancelled due to smog conditions,” a northern railway official said.
Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) on Monday was 468, up from 460 average on Sunday. The capital’s worst air quality this season was on November 9 at 486. Though the air quality had improved on Friday and Saturday to 403 due to higher wind speed, it plunged again on Sunday and the downward slide seemed to continue on Monday.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said the decline in air quality was because of fall in temperature, increased cloud cover, lower wind speed at ground level, and inflow of pollutants from Punjab and Haryana through higher altitude winds.
For almost a week now, air quality has remained in the “severe” zone across the National Capital Region, prompting to the Indian Medical Association to declare a health emergency. Schools in Gurgaon were closed on Monday due to pollution even as Delhi schools opened after remaining shut for four day.
Monday’s minimum temperature dropped to 12.4 degree Celsius and maximum temperature was at 28.4 degree Celsius. “The visibility dropped to 200 metres at Palam,” an official from the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) said. Foggy conditions are declared when the visibility goes below 1,000 metres.
Though some respite is expected on Tuesday, light rain on Wednesday could make the air quality even, warned Dipankar Saha, head of the air lab at the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).