Delhiites will have to settle for a smog-ridden Diwali this year. The thick haze that has settled over the city is not expected to dissipate in the coming week. Dr L.S. Rathore, director general of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), said, “A low density dust-ridden fog has spread its tentacles across the city. A combination of cyclone Nilam pumping moisture into the atmosphere, falling temperature and the presence of pollutants has created this smog cover.”
“With no horizontal or vertical mechanism like long strong winds to blow it away, we expect it to hover over the city for the next 5-6 days,” Mr Rathore explained.
Doctors warn that Delhites are choking on Delhi’s air much before Diwali.
The bursting of crackers will make the situation worse. This is because there has been a marked escalation of pollution levels across the city from October.
The Centre for Science and Environment(CSE), which has been monitoring pollution levels in October, pointed out that pollution level in the Civil Lines area in north Delhi in the first week of October were PM 2.5 ( i.e. particulate matter or air pollutants containing particles with 2.5 micrometre diameter or less) which is 1.3 in excess of permissible levels. The last week of October saw the levels increase four times over.
November has seen these 24-hour levels exceed the standard six times over. On November 3, the PM 2.5 levels in Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi was 458 microgramme per cubic metre (ug/m3); at Mandir Marg it was 273, R.K. Puram 247 and IGI Airport it was 408.40 ug/m3. Ozone levels have touched 208.85 ug/m3 and are escalating.
This smog cover has meant bad news on the health front with respiratory ailments on the rise especially among Delhi children. The presence of small particulate matter aggravates cardiac symptoms in the short term and is known to cause lung cancer in the long term.
Health experts feel it is time to introduce a smog alert system-based air quality index which can be used to issue health advisories. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, CSE, points out that governments across the globe take these daily pollution level bulletins very seriously in order to protect the health of their citizens. But this does not seem to be the case in Delhi, she added.