AAP Says 'Patakha, Parali' Worsened Delhi Pollution, BJP Raps it for 'Blaming Hindus & Diwali' | Updates

The air quality in Delhi continued to remain ‘severe’ on Tuesday as bursting crackers on Diwali night reversed the recent rain relief. The pollution levels saw a jump on Monday when smoky haze returned after residents flouted ban on fireworks.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) was registered at 417 in RK Puram on November 14, ITO recorded AQI of 430, Janakpuri was at 428 and Punjabi Bagh at 410.

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded the coldest night of the season with the minimum temperature dropping to 11.8 degrees Celsius on Monday. The weather recorded at Safdarjung, the city’s base station, was two degrees below normal.

According to a report in Times of India, the last time the national capital recorded a higher minimum temperature than Monday’s was on November 6 at 13.5 degrees Celsius.

The report quoted India Meteorological Department officials as saying that the mercury is likely to fall further for the next few days as winter conditions may start setting in.

“Overall the city may witness a slight dip in night temperature. If there is sunlight, the nights may record a marginal rise in minimum temperature,” Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, IMD, was quoted.

Srivastava, however, added that the minimum temperature is likely to witness a significant drop from the last week of November.

More Pollution and Weather Updates Here:

• Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said that AQI level has increased today as compared to yesterday. “We are focusing on water sprinkling; odd-even and artificial rain are emergency measures. If AQI goes to severe plus category/ 450+ then we will think about it,” he added.

• “Stubble was burnt more in Uttar Pradesh than Punjab but BJP kept defending itself yesterday. It was the saffron party that instigated cracker-burning. Three state police are under BJP. Who has failed,” Rai further said.

• The environment minister said that there are three factors in present pollution: “parali (stubble burning), pataka (firecracker bursting) and non-compliance of GRAP in NCR states”.

Jumping into the blame game, BJP Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “…but AAP will blame Hindus, Diwali, Centre, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It will remain silent on Punjab Parali.” He thanked chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for “making Delhi a gas chamber”.

• Meanwhile, Mumbai recorded “poor” air quality at 127 AQI. Colaba saw an AQI of 126, Bhandup recorded AQI of 108, Malad was at 162, Mazagaon at 129, Worli at 79, Borivali at 154, Bandra-Kurla Complex at 149, Andheri at 108 and Chembur at 153.

• Amid high pollution levels in the national capital, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has doubled the charges for parking sites managed by it to discourage people from using private vehicles.

There are a total of 91 parking sites in the NDMC area. While 41 of these are managed by the NDMC, the maintenance of others has been outsourced to other agencies.

Parking sites between Rajpath and AIIMS, including those at Sarojini Nagar market, Khan Market, Lodhi Road, INA, AIIMS and Safdarjung, fall in the NDMC area. These sites witness heavy traffic.

“Keeping in view the climatic conditions, the parking fees (off road/on road) has been enhanced to twice the existing (amount) to discourage private transport for the parking managed by NDMC through its own staff till 31st January 2024,” an official notification stated.