Rains in Delhi, air quality remains in ‘very poor’ category

Rain lashed
parts of Delhi on Tuesday as the air quality remained in the “very poor”
category in several areas of the national capital.

Air quality
was “very poor” category in Anand Vihar and “poor” category in Punjabi Bagh,
Lodhi Road and ITO, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The Air
Quality Index (AQI) was at 338 in Anand Vihar, 341 in Rohini and at 339 in
Mundka—all three in the “very poor” category according to the Delhi Pollution
Control Committee (DPCC) data.

Air quality
in Delhi had deteriorated on Monday to “very poor” on the CPCB scale. The
CPCB’s AQI read 345 on Monday. It was mainly due to the reduction in wind speed
from over 20kmph on January 23 to less than 10kmph, the minimum wind speed
required in Delhi to disperse pollutants.

The India
Meteorological Department (IMD) had on Sunday predicted widespread rain and
snowfall in the western Himalayan region, northern plains and states in the
country’s east because of a fresh western disturbance (WD).

The met
department had said Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, parts of
Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh and eastern India will receive rainfall,
accompanied by lightning and hail, over the next three days.

Isolated
places in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will receive
heavy rain and snow.

This will be
the seventh WD in January. A WD is a storm originating in the Mediterranean
region that brings winter rain to the north-western parts of the Indian
subcontinent. Usually, there are just three WDs in January.