Delhi pollution level jumps to 'very poor' category amid stubble burning

People in Delhi are gasping for a breath of fresh air as the air quality of the national capital has reached the 'very poor' category on Tuesday.

According to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the air quality deteriorates in the national capital with the rising of pollutants in the atmosphere. The Air Quality Index (AQI) is at 332 in 'very poor' category at PM 10 was 320 and PM 2.5 at 389 at ITO.

In Anand Vihar, the air quality was in very poor; category in the morning as the AQI at PM 10 was 428 and PM 2.5 at 397.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 is 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 is marked as 'severe/hazardous'.

Amidst increasing levels of air pollution in the national capital region, close to 700 cases of stubble burning were reported from Punjab and Haryana between September 21-29, according to sources in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFF & CC).According to the data, between the nine-day period, Active Fire Events (AFE) registered in Punjab and Haryana this year were 579 and 120, against the much lower 208 and 27, respectively, incidents reported from the two states last year in the same period.

The Delhi government has already launched a campaign, "War against Pollution" (Yuddh Pradushan ke Viruddh) on October 9. A tree transplantation policy has also been passed in this regard in a recent Cabinet meeting.