Delhi Fire Services starts sprinkling water at 13 pollution hotspots

New Delhi: The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) has started sprinkling water at 13 hotspots to curb rising air pollution in the city, officials said on Monday.

The identified pollution hotspots are Narela, Bawana, Mundka, Wazirpur, Rohini, RK Puram, Okhla, Jahangirpuri, Anand Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Mayapuri and Dwarka, DFS Director Atul Garg said.

These hotspots were identified based on the annual average concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 in these areas, Garg said.

"Sprinkling water in these 13 locations will help settle down dust," he said, adding that a total of 12 fire tenders were pressed into service for the purpose which already started spraying water from Sunday.

The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm every day by the Central Pollution Control Board, worsened from 415 on Saturday to 454 on Sunday, prompting the Centre to implement all emergency measures mandated under the final Stage IV of its air pollution control plan called the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The AQI on Monday was recorded at 423 ('severe') in the national capital at 4 pm.

Under the Centre's air pollution control plan, all emergency measures, including a ban on polluting trucks, commercial four-wheelers, and all types of construction, are mandated to be initiated and enforced in the National Capital Region if the AQI crosses the 450-mark.

Ravindra Khaiwal, Professor of Environment Health, Faculty Officer, Centre of Excellence on Climate Change and Air Pollution Related-illness at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, said, "From October 1 till now, a total number of 1,976 farm fires were witnessed in Haryana while 13,890 farm fires were witnessed in Punjab during the same duration. This brings a total number of 15,866 farm fires so far."

He said that they developed this data from their own algorithm to extract from satellites, including district-wise mapping of fire counts.

"From 2012 to 2022, Punjab witnessed 64 per cent decline in farm fires while Haryana saw a decrease of 67 per cent," Khaiwal further said.

On Monday, Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced odd-even car rationing scheme which will be enforced in Delhi from November 13 to 20 as a measure to combat air pollution.

Rai also said that to safeguard the health of schoolchildren, the government has decided to suspend in-person classes in all schools, except for students in grades 10 and 12 preparing for board exams.

"The odd-even scheme will come into effect in Delhi after Diwali, running from November 13 to November 20. A decision to extend the scheme will be made after November 20," the minister said at a press meet.

He said the details of the odd-even scheme, including exemptions, will be worked out soon in consultation with the transport department.

Introduced in 2016, the odd-even car rationing scheme permits vehicles to operate on alternate days based on their odd or even number plates. The enforcement next week would mark the fourth time that the Delhi government will implement this scheme to tackle air pollution in the city.