News

On Friday morning, the national capital, Delhi, experienced very bad air quality with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) going up to 387 at around 8 am, thus putting it in the 'very poor' category, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

Anand Vihar was in the purview of thick smog, where the AQI stood at 437 putting it in 'severe category.' ITO, Ghazipur, Palam, and Greater Noida areas too were covered by a thick layer of smog.

As per CPCB data, many places such as Vivek Vihar (436), Punjabi Bagh (412), R.K. Puram (436), and Nehru Nagar (425) recorded a drop in air quality and were, classified as 'severe.'

Based on AQI classification scale, 0-50 is classified as 'good,' 51-100 'satisfactory,' 101-200 'moderate,' 201-300 'poor,' 301-400 'very poor,' and 401-500 is considered the worst or 'severe.'

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa surprised several petrol pumps, including those at the Delhi-Gurugram border and Janpath, with unannounced checks to inspect if the 'No PUC, No Fuel' rule was being followed.

According to airport sources, visibility over airports and observatories reported in meters (at 0530 hours IST of today):

Uttar Pradesh : Agra, Bareilly, Saharanpur & Gorakhpur 00 each, Lucknow 100; Punjab: Ambala, Amritsar, Bhatinda, Ludhiana & Adampur 00 each; Delhi: Safdarjung 00, Palam 50; Haryana: Ambala 00, Chandigarh 200; Madhya Pradesh: Gwalior 00; Bihar: Bhagalpur 00, Gaya 100; Jharkhand: Daltonganj 00; Manipur: Imphal 100.

He spoke to the owners of vehicles present and said, "This is not about issuing challans, it is a matter of clean air.

Every valid PUCC that was issued today is a little victory in our fight against pollution. On the 17th of December, Delhi saw the issuing of 29,938 PUCCs.

On the 18th of December, up to 5.20 pm, 31,974 new certificates were issued.

Hence, the total went over 61,000 in just about a day. The government is predicting a further rise in the number of people getting PUCCs before the purchase of petrol or diesel.

The Minister reported, "The issuing of more than 60,000 PUCCs in one day is indicative of the fact that when citizens are convinced that the measures being taken are for the benefit of the public, they are more than ready to cooperate."