Govt doubles stubble burning fine to Rs 30,000 to fight pollution
The amendment is part of the government’s push to reduce air pollution under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act of 2021.
Air quality in the national capital further deteriorated to ‘severe’ category on Saturday with the Air Quality Index (AQI) of 457 in Anand Vihar area. It was also recorded in the ‘severe category’ in Noida as per the National Air Quality Index.
An AQI between zero 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”.
According to data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), Delhi’s overall air quality was 381 in the ‘very poor’ category in the afternoon.
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In the Delhi University area, the AQI was recorded at 399, also in the ‘very poor’ category. In the Mathura Road area, it was 380. In Gurugram, it was 349 while in Noida the AQI was recorded at 411.
Today morning the air quality in the national capital remained in the ‘very poor’ category with the overall AQI at 309.
“Local surface winds are 6 to 8 km/h (Max Temperature 32 deg C; Min 14-15 deg C) for the next three days that cause weak dispersion of pollutants. Peak ‘Mixing layer height’ during daytime (~1.0-1.5 km) leads to moderate vertical dispersion of pollutants,” read SAFAR’s official statistics.
The air quality watchdog also informed that strong winds at the transport level blowing from the northwest direction from stubble burning areas are likely to transport pollutants to Delhi and its share in Delhi’s PM2.5 is likely to increase further.
According to the SAFAR forecast, the air quality of the city will continue under the “very poor category” on Sunday.
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