Environment minister says air quality in Delhi 'much better' a day after Diwali

New Delhi, Oct 20: Asserting that the air quality in Delhi a day after Diwali was "much better" compared to last year, Environment minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday the number of 'poor and very poor' days have come down significantly.

"It is not even 24 hours since the Diwali celebrations, every person is breathing normally and no person is having difficulty in breathing. There is no smog," he said.

Vardhan said his ministry had "prepared even more" this year.

"I personally wrote to 2-2.5 lakh school principals across the country. In Delhi, thousands of children campaigned for green and 'Harit Diwali' for the past two months... It is the result of these (steps) that this year (the air quality) is much better," he said.

Earlier today, the pollution monitor of the state-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) turned a deep shade of brown, indicating 'severe' air quality in the city.

However, SAFAR has predicted a relatively cleaner post- Diwali air due to favourable meteorological conditions, which are helping prevent the smoke-filled air from the agricultural belt of Haryana and Punjab from entering the national capital.

Vardhan said that for monitoring of air quality days have been classified into 'good', 'satisfactory' and 'moderate'.

"'Poor' and 'very poor' days significantly came down. 'Severe' days did not even happen this year," he said.

Last year, the air quality in Delhi and surrounding areas deteriorated significantly due to rampant cracker bursting. This year, the Supreme Court banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR before Diwali and the ban would continue till November 1.

Emphasising the need to build a social movement to combat pollution, Vardhan urged citizens to undertake "one good, green deed every day". The Union minister said he has held meetings with officers from the states of National Capital Region on stubble burning and efforts were on to provide farmers with an alternative. He reiterated that scientists have been asked to develop "zero-pollution" crackers to tackle pollution.

An environment ministry statement said that comparison of air quality until this period with last year showed positive changes. The year 2017 has seen a few 'good' days (AQI

AQI refers to air quality index.

The number of 'moderate' days (AQI between 101 and 200) has increased nearly 22 per cent while the number of 'poor' (AQI between 201 and 300) days has declined almost by 10 per cent, it said. The number of 'very poor' (AQI between 301 and 400) days has declined nearly 30 per cent, while there has been no 'severe' day (AQI>400) in 2017, as against seven during the same period last year.

PTI