New Delhi:

Delhi continued to battle a worsening pollution crisis, with its air quality plunging into the ‘severe’ category for a fourth consecutive day. A dense smog has blanketed the city, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 406 this morning, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The smog and pollution are causing severe health concerns, including respiratory distress, eye irritation, and heightened risks of cardiovascular complications.

Drone footage from Saturday morning at key locations such as AIIMS and Pragati Maidan shows a layer of smog still lingering in the air. At Pragati Maidan, the AQI stood at 357, a level classified as ‘very poor.’ Other hotspots, including Kalindi Kunj and India Gate, reported AQI levels of 414 and above, putting them in the ‘severe’ category.

Even high-rise buildings in areas like Kalindi Kunj appeared shrouded in a gray haze, while parts of the Yamuna river near Okhla Barrage were covered with toxic foam.

#WATCH | Delhi continues to be covered in a blanket of smog in the mornings as the Air Quality Index (AQI) continues to be in ‘Severe’ category in several areas as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)

(Drone visuals from Signature Bridge shot at 8:45 am) pic.twitter.com/q6uMZdQHhU

— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2024

As toxic smog blankets India’s capital, the Delhi government has implemented stringent measures to curb pollution under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The government has banned the operation of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers across the national capital. Violators will face penalties under Section 194(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, which translates to a fine of Rs 20,000.

Additional vehicle-related restrictions include prohibition of diesel-operated Medium Goods Vehicles (MGVs) of BS-III standards or below within Delhi, unless transporting essential goods or services.

Restrictions have been implemented for diesel Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) registered outside Delhi, with exceptions for essential services. A ban has been imposed on interstate buses, except for those powered by electric, CNG, or BS-VI diesel engines, unless operating under an All India Tourist Permit.

Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP-III)

GRAP-III, enacted by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), brings a suite of interventions to combat severe pollution. These include:

Intensified road sweeping and water sprinkling, especially on heavy traffic corridors and pollution hotspots.

A complete ban on demolition, earth excavation, and transportation of construction waste.

Enhanced public transport services, including the deployment of 106 additional shuttle buses and increased metro train trips.

Staggered Office Timings

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi announced yesterday staggered timings for government offices in the city to ease traffic congestion given the pollution levels. Under the schedule, 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 VK 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.

Schools for children up to Class 5 will transition to online learning after the weekend.  Private construction and demolition activities are suspended, while government projects deemed essential will continue. Transport department teams, with 280 personnel, have been deployed to enforce these measures.

New Delhi:

Since Wednesday morning, north India has been covered in a thick blanket of smog, leading to low visibility, a drop in temperature and the air quality deteriorating to the ‘Severe’ category.

Air quality remained a concern all over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), with satellite images showing the alarming scale of the smog cover over northwest India including Delhi and its adjoining areas. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, parts of north Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, are covered with smog.

Hiren Jethwa, an aerosol remote sensing scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, shared the satellite images, detailing the extent of the smog covering the IGP, the reasons behind the dense smog in November, and how the farmers in Punjab are evading NASA satellites by burning crops late afternoon.

Early morning satellite images reveal IGP engulfed in smog. Delhi AQI in severe category. Urban heat island effect over Delhi. Farm fires in Pujab appear to have passed peak burning phase, but still plenty to fuel bad AQI downwind @VishnuNDTV@mohitk1@CBhattacharji@jksmith34pic.twitter.com/OTGXyJwVny

— Hiren Jethva (@hjethva05) November 14, 2024

Thermal Inversion – A Key Factor

Thermal inversion is a big factor behind the sudden spike in dense smog and pollution levels. Hiren Jethwa, a research scientist at NASA, explained the phenomena and said, “The warmer air sits above the cooler air on the ground and that does not allow the vertical mixing of pollutants and whatever we emit at the surface stays for around 200 metres within the boundary layer. The stronger the thermal inversion, the more pollutants will be trapped near the surface because there is no venting place for the pollutants to go up in the vertical direction.”

“In the satellite images, we can notice that smoke from crop burning is mixed with clouds or is above them and that kind of situation furthers thermal inversion because of the absorption of light-absorbing aerosols and that it further warms the upper layer and increases thermal inversion,” Mr Jethwa said.

He added that the fog occurrence over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) has increased and the occurrence has increased in November, which usually took place in December. He explained that there’s more particulate matter (PM), which acts as a cloud condensation nuclei which favours the formation of fog and when temperatures go down an enormous amount of aerosols contribute to fog formation.

Farmers Avoiding NASA Satellites?

The CAQM appreciated Punjab for making strenuous efforts to bring down the stubble-burning count by nearly 71 per cent as compared to last year. Mr Jethwa said, “It is not true that farm fires in Punjab and Haryana have gone down.”  On Monday, farm fires in Punjab alone crossed the 7,000 mark after over 400 fresh cases were registered.

Mr Jethwa claimed that farmers in Punjab are timing crop burning with the overpass of NASA satellites. He said, “We use the afternoon satellite overpass time data from NASA Satellites like Suomi NPP and Aqua. They overpass the region around 1:30-2:00 pm but somehow they (farmers) have learnt that they can bypass the satellite overpass time and can burn the crop residue in the late afternoon. This is confirmed by the South Korean geostationary satellite that the majority of the crop burning happens after 2 pm once the NASA satellites overpass the region when there is no surveillance, but the fires cannot be hidden from geostationary satellites which take a picture of the region every five minutes.”

Mr Jethwa in an X post, shared satellite images from October 29, taken by the GEO-KOMSAT A2 satellite, shows a timelapse of the crop-burning activities in northwest India. The images show dense cloud cover over the region post-4 pm, when compared to 1:30 pm, suggesting that farmers are burning crops late afternoon to avoid NASA satellite surveillance.

Today’s GEO-KOMSAT A2 satellite images visually convince of late afternoon burning acticitivities in NW India, avoiding NASA satellite surveillance around 1:30 PM IST @VishnuNDTV@CBhattacharji@parthaabosu@jksmith34@UrbanEmissions@avoiland@moesgoipic.twitter.com/BJsidjNqzy

— Hiren Jethva (@hjethva05) October 29, 2024

“The pollution loading in the last two weeks has reached the highest level that we haven’t seen in the last 10 years…The crop burning has gone down over a certain period. Still, if we look at the geostationary images, there are many farm fires after 2 pm,” he told NDTV today, adding that “the data from geostationary satellite is sensitive to the thermal signal produced by the fire. It lasts for at least four hours.”

On whether there has been an increase in burnt area, Mr Jethwa said, “This year, the data is yet to come out, but the fires seen so far until November 14 are 19% of the level seen in 2022 and 35% seen in 2023. Of course, there is a drastic drop around 1:30 p.m., but if we see the burnt area data, there has been no drastic decrease.”

Today the data showed that five farm fires were reported in Punjab, 11 in Haryana, and the highest number, 202, in Uttar Pradesh, according to satellite data shared by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). As per government data, Punjab recorded 49,922 farm fire events in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018 with many districts including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar witnessing a large number of stubble burning incidents.

Mr Jethwa concluded by saying “Yes, farmers can hide the crop burning from the 1:30 pm overpass time but the PM 2.5 data and the pollution load over the Indo-Gangetic plain region, the geostationary satellite data and the burnt…everything is pointing toward fire is still present. Maybe it’s still increasing…Smog towers are a small fix. It won’t work unless we address the issue of crop burning in the region.

Toxic Air In Delhi

Several factors contribute to pollution in the Delhi-NCR region including the emission of gases from vehicles, stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana and construction and dumping activities.

The situation worsens every year after Diwali due to the bursting of firecrackers, which have been under a blanket ban in Delhi for the last few years.

Last morning, dense smog caused zero visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, disrupting flight operations. Meanwhile, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the panel tasked with enforcing anti-pollution measures in Delhi-NCR, called it an “episodic event” and expected the situation to improve “owing to stronger winds”.

Today, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was measured at 428 at 9 am, placing it in the ‘severe’ category. This marks Delhi’s worst air quality reading of the season and the highest in the country, with a 24-hour AQI of 418 on Wednesday, an increase from 334 the day prior.

Dr Vivek Nangia, a Pulmonology head at Max Hospital, told NDTV that “Air pollution has been labelled as the single-most hazardous environmental risk factor to our health.” 

“Large particulate matter of 5 or 10 microns irritates the eyes and sore throat, but the smaller particles go inside the lungs and get absorbed into the bloodstream along with toxic gases, which results in an inflammatory cascade in the body. This is not only restricted to the lungs but the entire body. It could result in brain strokes, heart attacks, panic attacks and various types of cancer, a decreased life expectancy. For the lungs, it could cause illnesses like Asthma and even lung cancer which was earlier labelled as ‘smoker’s cancer’.” Dr Nangia said.

The satellite image shows the whole of Delhi and its adjoining areas covered under a dense layer of smog. The gravity of the situation is better understood when the satellite picture is compared with an image from exactly one year ago. On November 14, 2023, a less dense cloud cover was visible over the Indo-Gangetic plain from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh. On November 14, 2024, the density of the smog cover appears to have doubled than what it was at the same time last year.

The CAQM has today enforced stricter norms to control air pollution, banning all non-essential construction demolition work, and plying of BS III petrol and BS-IV diesel cars, among other actions. The measures will be implemented from 8 am tomorrow.

The Supreme Court today agreed to expedite a hearing on measures to combat the city’s hazardous pollution levels on November 18.

Situation In Pakistan

The situation is bad in neighbouring Pakistan too. Most outdoor activities have been banned in the Punjab province of the country, including an early shutdown of shops, markets and malls in some areas to curb pollution-caused illnesses.

Districts of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala have reported an increase in patients with respiratory diseases, and eye and throat irritation. “The spread of conjunctivitis/ pink eye disease due to bacterial or viral infection, smoke, dust or chemical exposure is posing a serious and imminent threat to public health,” the Punjab government said.

Similar to its cross-border neighbour Amritsar, Lahore is also enveloped in a thick layer of smog, which stretches from west Pakistan, all the way to Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh, satellite images show.

Lahore’s air quality has remained hazardous for several days with an index score of over 600, according to IQAir. At 8 pm (IST) today, Lahore is the world’s most polluted city with an AQI of 1136, as per IQAir. It is expected to drop to 850 by 11 pm (IST). Delhi ranks second on the index with ‘very poor’ air quality.

For comparison; As per the IQAir monitor, Washington DC is the cleanest city in the world with an AQI of 31.

UNICEF has also called for greater efforts to reduce pollution and protect children’s health in Pakistan’s Punjab, saying over 11 million children under five years of age are in danger as they breathe the toxic air.

“In addition, schools in smog-affected areas have been closed…the learning of almost 16 million children in Punjab has been disrupted,” Reuters reported, quoting, Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in the country.

New Delhi:

Delhi and its adjoining areas have been covered under a blanket of thick smog since last morning and the air quality has plummeted to the ‘Severe’ category and the air quality index reported over 400 in several areas.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had called the early-morning dense smog an “episodic event” and said they expect the situation to improve by today but the dangerous levels of AQI have forced the CAQM to implement stage III of the Graded Action Response Plan. The measures will be implemented from 8 am tomorrow.

What is GRAP III

• It is the third phase of anti-pollution measures that are implemented when AQI reaches ‘Severe’ (401 to 450).
• Construction and Demolition Activities: A strict ban on non-essential construction and demolition work, with exceptions for projects critical to national security, healthcare, and certain public infrastructure projects.
• Vehicle Restrictions: Ban on the operation of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi and parts of the NCR like Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Noida.
• Restrictions on the use of diesel generator sets for emergency purposes only. Industrial operations not running on fuels in the standard list of approved ones are banned.
• Intensifying mechanized road sweeping and water sprinkling to suppress dust. Increasing public transport services and promoting off-peak travel through differential rates.
• Major welding and gas-cutting operations. Minor welding activities for MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing) works are to be, however, permitted.
• Painting, polishing and varnishing works etc. Cement, Plaster / other coatings, except for minor indoor repairs/ maintenance. Cutting/grinding and fixing of tiles, stones and other flooring materials, except for minor indoor repairs/ maintenance. Waterproofing work (Excluding Chemical waterproofing).
• Movement of vehicles carrying construction materials on unpaved roads.

GRAP, implemented in the region during the winter season, actions in four stages: Stage I – ‘Poor’ (AQI 201-300); Stage II – ‘Very Poor’ (AQI 301-400); Stage III – ‘Severe’ (AQI 401-450); and Stage IV – ‘Severe Plus’ (AQI above 450). 

GRAP II was enforced in Delhi in October after the air quality was recorded at over 300.

GRAP Stage 1 (AQI 201-300)

• Periodic mechanised sweeping and water sprinkling on roads.
• Dust mitigation at construction sites. Proper waste management.
• Strict checks on polluting vehicles, better traffic management, and emission controls in industries, power plants, and brick kilns.
• Bans on open burning of waste, limited use of diesel generators, and no use of coal or firewood in eateries. 
• Quick actions for redressal of complaints on 311 APP, Green Delhi App, SAMEER App and other such social media platforms to curb polluting activities. 
• Encourage offices to start unified commutes for employees to reduce traffic on the road.
• Advisory to celebrate festivals in an eco-friendly manner by avoiding firecrackers.

GRAP Stage 2 (AQI 301-400)

• Mechanised sweeping and water sprinkling on roads daily. Focussed and targeted action for abatement of air pollution in all identified hotspots
• Uninterrupted power supply to discourage the use of alternate power generating sets.
• Enhance vehicle parking fees to discourage private transport.
• Resident Welfare Associations are required to provide electric heaters to security staff.
• Augment CNG/electric bus and metro services by inducting additional fleet and increasing the frequency of service. 

GRAP Stage 4 (AQI >450)

• Stop entry of truck traffic into Delhi. Ban on construction and demolition activities for linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines, telecommunication etc.
• The government can discontinue physical classes, including Classes Vl – lX and Class Xl.
• The government is to decide on allowing public, municipal and private offices to work on 50% strength and the rest to work from home.
• State governments may consider additional emergency measures like the closure of colleges/educational institutions and closure of non-emergency commercial activities, permitting the running of vehicles on the odd-even basis of registration numbers etc.
• Children, the elderly and those with respiratory, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or other chronic diseases to avoid outdoor activities and stay indoors.