What led to poor air quality in Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 03: Diwali 2021 is round the corner and as expected Delhi's overall air quality dips to 'very poor' category, raising concern among the environmentalists and the government.

Meanwhile, overall air quality in Delhi in the next 24 hours is expected to remain in 'very poor' category. Smog was visible for the first time today.

The officials at the India Meteorological Department have said that they will be specially monitoring the air quality for the next 2 days, as situation is expected to go worsen due to Diwali celebrations.

There is no specific answer to what led to increase in level of toxic air in the national capital. There is also a steady decrease in contribution of farm fires in Delhi's air pollution due to the record-breaking rainfall in October and favourable wind direction.

Speaking on the deteriorating air condition in Delhi, Manu Singh, an environmentalist said "Air quality of Delhi has been poor since last week. But today, it deteriorated further and it has gone to very poor standard. This deterioration has happened primarily, due to a dip in mercury levels of Delhi. It is also due to calmer winds."

"Secondly, the dip in temperature makes the wind heavier so that hampers the dispersal of pollution. It is expected that in the next 2-3 days, the AQI will deteriorate further and we'll have the same kind of very poor air quality: Manu Singh, environmentalist," Manu told ANI.

"After the festival, it is expected that the airflow would increase slightly, leading to some kind of relief. But throughout the winter season, due to calmer air and dip in temperature, it's expected that the air quality will remain very poor to poor," he further said.

"the average AQI score for Delhi in October 2021 was 173, which puts it in the 'moderate' category. It was the best that the air in the national capital has been in over the past four years in the same period - average AQI was 265 in October 2020, 234 in 2019 and 264 in 2018, according to PTI.

As the winter nears, experts worry that a drop in temperatures, and a rise in incidents of stubble burning could become deadly for 'good air' in Delhi.