Poor air-condition and degrading air quality has pushed the national capital into health emergency with schools being forced to shut until Tuesday this week. Due to the dense smog in and around the city, Vistara airlines have diverted their Delhi-bound flights citing poor visibility.
Four of Vistara's Delhi-bound flights including the UK810 from Bangalore, UK946 from Ahmedabad, UK832 from Chennai and UK856 from Goa has been diverted to Amritsar. The UK813 bound to Delhi from Kochi has been diverted to Mumbai. Four of the carrier's flights including the UK813 from Delhi to Bangalore, UK814 from Bangalore to Delhi, UK977 from Delhi to Mumbai and UK950 from Mumbai to Delhi have been cancelled.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the national capital's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 494 at 4 pm on Sunday, the highest since November 6, 2016, when it was 497. Twenty-one of the 37 air quality monitoring stations recorded the AQI between 490 and 500 with air quality sensors at Aya Nagar, Ashok Vihar, Anand Vihar and Aurobindo Marg peaked out at 7 pm.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), Faridabad with AQI 493, Noida (494), Ghaziabad (499) and Greater Noida (488), Gurugram (479), also breathed extremely polluted air.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, said the city's overall AQI reached as high as 708 around 5 pm, which is 14 times the safe level of 0-50. An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'. An AQI above 500 falls in the 'severe plus' category.
Comments
0 comment