Air quality to turn ‘severe’, EPCA tells NCR states to control pollution

A discussion on air pollution and climate change is also scheduled to take place in the Lok Sabha Tuesday afternoon.

EPCA chairman Dr Bhure Lal has spoken to chief secretaries of Punjab and Haryana — the two main stubble burning states — to explain the gravity of the situation, said EPCA member Sunita Narain.

“The IMD has alerted us that the next few days, from Tuesday to Thursday, will have very little wind and ventilation. In this circumstance, dispersion of pollutants will not happen and there is a likelihood that we will slip back to the ‘very poor’ and even the ‘severe’ category,” Dr Lal said in a letter to the chief secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) Monday remained in the ‘poor’ category at 214.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Monday said a second round of odd-even road-rationing scheme, which ended last week, was not necessary for now as “the sky has cleared”.