Emergency like situation in Delhi: AQI still at 500 today, schools closed... many flights and trains delayed; visibility affected

Posted on 19th Nov 2024 by rohit kumar

Air pollution in the country's capital Delhi has reached dangerous levels. The fog along with pollution has increased the trouble of the people. Not only Delhi but NCR is also facing the brunt of pollution. Gap-4 rules have been implemented. Schools have been closed. People are appealed to stay at home. Despite all the prevention, pollution is not being controlled. Visibility is low due to fog. Whereas outside Delhi NCR, only fog is visible.

 

According to media reports, train movement continues in Delhi amid fog. The speed of trains at New Delhi Railway Station is slow. Railways said that 22 trains are running late and nine trains have been stopped. On November 19, at 05:30 am, visibility in Safdarjung and Palam in Delhi was recorded from 600 meters to 4 400 meters.

 

At the same time, due to increasing AQI, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has decided to conduct online classes till November 22. The Union Health Secretary on Monday issued an updated advisory to the states and union territories regarding air pollution. The advisory includes recommendations for states and union territories to strengthen existing health systems and raise awareness among vulnerable groups and at-risk occupations.

 

The emergency-like situation in Delhi

 

Dangerous pollution in the capital has created a health emergency. People are forced to breathe poisonous air. On Monday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 494, which is in the very severe category. This was the highest AQI of this season. At the same time, the index was 53 higher than Sunday. On the other hand, AQI 500 was recorded in 12 areas including Ashok Vihar, Bawana, and Dwarka Sector Eight. Dense fog prevailed at Palam Airport. Here the visibility was recorded at 100-150 meters at 7.30 am. Visibility was recorded at 150 meters at Safdarjung Airport, which was 200 meters at Safdarjung at 5 pm and 700 meters at Palam. This affected the movement on the roads.

 

AQI of Loni became 500

 

The health of the air deteriorated further on Tuesday morning. AQI of Loni, which was already in the severe category, was recorded at 500 at 8 am. At the same time, the AQI of Sanjay Nagar was also recorded at 478, Vasundhara at 469, and Indirapuram at 436. AQI of Ghaziabad remains 438. Due to pollution, there was silence in the parks in the morning. Some people who came to walk in the parks also returned after a while due to difficulty in breathing.

 

Five days fog alert

The Meteorological Department has expressed the possibility of dense fog for the next five days. In such a situation, people have been requested to drive carefully. According to the department, the temperature dropped due to poor visibility and dense fog throughout the day on Monday. The maximum temperature dropped by one degree Celsius. At the same time, the sun did not come out properly during the day. Due to this, people felt cold in the morning and evening as well as during the day.

 

Air became very severe for the first time.

 

Due to the worsening of weather conditions, the fog mixed with pollutants and smog covered Delhi throughout the day. Due to this, people had to face difficulty in seeing far while India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan also appeared invisible amidst the smog. Weather experts say that Western disturbance is active in the Himalayan region. Due to this, the direction of the wind has started blowing from the north-west direction. Due to this, local pollution dominated along with pollutants from outside states. During this time, the speed of the wind blowing on the surface also remained slow. Due to this, the pollutants could not spread far and the level of pollution in Delhi reached the very severe category.

 

Air and rail services also disrupted

 

Air pollution is not only affecting health but also disrupting air and rail services. Visibility has been reduced completely due to the layer of fog. This is not only affecting the operation of trains but is also creating obstacles for planes to land on the runway. On Monday morning and afternoon, the visibility at Delhi airport decreased so much that 15 planes were not allowed to land on the runway. Due to this, the passengers of the plane had to land at Jaipur, Dehradun, and Lucknow airports instead of Delhi. The same was the situation of train passengers. More than 50 trains arriving at Delhi stations in the morning reached hours late.

 

Passengers are troubled by a thick blanket of fog.

 

On Monday, due to air pollution, a thick blanket of fog covered NCR. Visibility reached zero at some places. Flights had to be diverted at Delhi airport. Between 8:30 am and 11:30 am, the air traffic controller did not allow 11 planes to land. So 10 flights were diverted to Jaipur and one to Dehradun. At 3:30 pm again, there was sudden fog on the runway and visibility decreased. During this time also 4 flights had to be diverted. Due to low visibility, more than 70 flights were delayed. This caused a lot of trouble for the passengers.

 

The same situation can be faced today as well.

The speed of railways has come to a halt due to fog. More than 50 long-distance trains were delayed on Monday morning. Due to this, passengers had to face a lot of difficulties. Heavy fog badly affected passenger traffic at New Delhi, Nizamuddin, and Anand Vihar railway stations, especially Nizamuddin station. Due to dense fog and pollution, visibility on the railway track decreased, due to which many trains were able to run much later than the scheduled time. Passengers had to face a lot of problems due to trains being late. People were seen waiting for a long time to reach their destination. Many trains including New Delhi-Dibrugarh, Mahakaushal, Anand Vihar-Gaya, Anand Vihar-Muzaffarpur, New Delhi-Malda Town, Nizamuddin-Trivandrum were delayed by 3-4 hours. Passengers may have to face the same situation on Tuesday as well.

 

Pollution will remain in the very severe to severe category throughout the week.

 

According to CPCB, pollution remained very severe AQI in 34 areas including Ashok Vihar, Rohini, Wazirpur, and Nehru Nagar. In this too, AQI 500 was recorded in 12 areas, while according to the data of the Delhi Pollution Control Board (DPCC), the level of PM2.5 reached above 1000 AQI in many areas. In this, AQI 1,050 was recorded in RK Puram, 1,009 in Nehru Nagar, 963 in Wazirpur, and 941 AQI was recorded in Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range.

 

Indian Tropical Meteorology According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), the wind blew from the northwest on Monday. During this time the wind speed was six to 12 kilometers per hour. On Tuesday, the wind is expected to blow from the northwest direction. During this time the wind speed will be eight to 12 kilometers per hour. At the same time, there is a possibility of smog in the morning. On Wednesday, the wind will blow from the north-west direction. The wind speed is expected to be two to 10 kilometers per hour. In such a situation, due to the low wind speed, the pollutants will not spread and the pollution level will increase. On the other hand, the wind is expected to blow at six to 12 kilometers per hour on Thursday as well.

 

Pollution even after the wind speed improves

 

Experts say that the wind blowing at a speed of 10 km per hour does not allow the pollutants to stay in one place. At present, the wind speed in Delhi is 8-12 km per hour, despite this, the reason for the pollution level being dense is the temperature. Vivek Chattopadhyay of CSE says that at this time the temperature is less than normal. Due to this the mixing height has gone down. The average mixing height released by IITM is also close to 1200 meters, whereas its standard should be 2500-3000 meters. On one hand, the mixing height has come down. At the same time, there is also a difference between day and night. At night, it sometimes comes below 500 meters. This does not allow the pollutants to spread. As a result, the pollution level has become extremely serious.