Delhi's air quality in November varied from poor to severe

New Delhi: Delhi's air quality in the month of November and first 10 days of December varied from poor, very poor to severe due to increased Particulate Matter (PM), Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday.

"Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has reported that in the month of November and first 10 days of December, Air Quality Index varied from poor, very poor to severe and is mainly attributed to increased Particulate Matter in ambient air, PM10 and PM 2.5 or both," the Minister said while replying to a question in Rajya Sabha.

CPCB has informed that regulatory agencies should establish source receptor relationships in terms of air emissions, he said.

"On reaching air quality at higher level, necessary action required to be taken by regulatory agency for example, may include: strict control on vehicle emissions, road dust/resuspension of dust and other fugitive emissions, air pollution from biomass and municipal solid waste burning, industrial air pollution, air pollution from construction and demolition activities and intense monitoring of the ambient air quality, etc ," Javadekar said.

He said air pollution depends on prevailing meteorological conditions including wind direction, wind speed, mixing height, temperature variation, etc. The high level of air pollution in Delhi is mainly because of PM, while sulphur dioxide, benzene and ozone were within the limits in the month of November and oxides of Nitrogen showed mixed trends.

"The prominent sources of PM emission in Delhi include road dust re-suspension, vehicular exhaust emissions, air traffic, railways, construction activities, gensets biomass and municipal solid waste burning, industrial emissions including from power plants," he said while replying to another question on air pollution.