Delhi air pollution: AQI remains ‘severe’ for 4th day, thick smog blankets NCR

The air quality in several parts of Delhi remained in the severe category on Saturday, November 16, while a dense layer of smog continued to envelop the national capital, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and other areas of NCR for the fourth consecutive day.

The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi’s Shadipur was recorded at 457 (‘severe plus’) at 9am on Satuday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Narela (449), Wazirpur (441) and Jahangiruri (445) are some of the areas that recorded the worst air quality in Delhi. The air quality crosses over 400, which falls under the severe category.

Delhi bans private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles

The Delhi government has banned private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles, prohibited the entry of interstate non-electric-CNG buses, certain categories of construction activities, and staggered government office timings, as the city choked under ‘severe’-category air pollution on Friday morning.

Private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles were banned from roads with violations inviting a penalty of ₹20,000. Diesel and petrol inter-state buses from the NCR cities to Delhi are also banned.

The transport department has deployed 84 teams, with an additional 280 personnel for catching violators, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said.

The restrictions were imposed under stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan, or GRAP, announced by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Thursday.

Gopal Rai said the situation will improve further with higher wind speed on Saturday.

Staggered timings for government offices

Chief minister Atishi announced staggered timings for government offices in the city to ease traffic congestion given the pollution levels.

Under the schedule announced by her in a post on X, central government offices will operate from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Delhi government offices from 10 am to 6.30 pm, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) offices from 8.30 am to 5 pm.

Delhi LG V K Saxena issued a note approving the staggered government office timings till February 2025, expressing dissatisfaction that a measure that should have been in place as a pre-emptive step was implemented with a delay of several days.

He said it was expected that the Delhi government would ensure strict enforcement of other measures discussed in a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on pollution control on October 24.

Delhi’s air quality has been in the ‘severe’ category for the last four days.

The government will run 106 shuttle buses and the Metro trains will make 60 extra trips daily to promote public transport. There will be a blanket ban on private construction and demolition activities while necessary government construction works will continue, Gopal Rai said.

Delhi schools for Classes up to 5 shifted to online

Delhi schools for Classes up to 5 will shift to online mode after the weekend. Principals and teachers of several private schools said they were using apps and smart boards to deal with the situation.

Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather Services told PTI that the air quality improved on Friday due to wind speeds of 8 to 12 kmph.

While the AQI will remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Saturday, it will improve comparatively.

Out of Delhi’s 39 monitoring stations, 18 reported air quality in the ‘severe’ category, down from 27 in the morning, according to Sameer app, which provides hourly updates of the national AQI published by the Central Pollution Control Board.

These stations include Alipur, Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Aya Nagar, Bawana, DTU, Dwarka Sector 8, IGI Airport, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, Narela, Nehru Nagar, Patparganj and Punjabi Bagh.