This time, pollution will be monitored at 37 places in the capital Delhi. These include 24 priority areas including 13 pollution hotspots of Delhi. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has identified the factors of pollution at these places.
Pollution levels in Delhi usually remain above normal except during the monsoon season. July and August are the clearest months and the wind direction changes after the rain activity reduces and the monsoon withdraws.
As the wind direction changes to north-west, the pollution level starts increasing. To control pollution, GRAP was implemented before 15 October last year, so that the pollution level could be prevented from worsening. There is every possibility that this time too, the provisions of GRAP can be implemented in the first week of October. To control pollution, special monitoring will be done in those areas of Delhi where the pollution level is usually high. About five years ago, 13 such areas were identified in Delhi, where the pollution level is high.
Recently, DPCC has identified 24 priority areas in addition to these hotspots. This time, special steps will be taken to control pollution in these 37 places. DPCC has also identified the factors of pollution in these 37 places in its report. Here the level of pollution is high due to reasons like broken roads, footpaths, garbage heaps, traffic jams, garbage fire, dust rising from the roads etc. Efforts will be made to control all these by running a campaign.
These are the 13 hotspots
Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, Narela, Okhla, Punjabi Bagh, RK Puram, Rohini, Vivek Vihar and Wazirpur area fall in the hotspot category.
24 priority areas
Alipur, Ayanagar, Burari Crossing, CRRI Mathura Road, Karni Singh Shooting Range, DTU, DU North Campus, IGI T-3, IHBAS, ITO, JLNN Stadium, Lodhi Road, Najafgarh, National Stadium, Nehru Nagar, New Moti Bagh, NSUT, Patparganj, Pusa (New Delhi), Pusa (Central), Shadipur, Sirifort, Sonia Vihar, Sri Aurobindo Marg
Clean air was available for 159 days in eight months
Clean air was available for 159 days from January to August. During these days, the air quality index was below 200, i.e. in the satisfactory or moderate category. There were 85 days in eight months when people had to breathe in bad, very bad or severe condition air. Last year, during this period, the air was clean for 163 days and the number of days with bad air was 80.
