Delhi's air quality turns hazardous, thick smog engulfs city

Reuters photo

NEW DELHI: The air quality continued to deteriorate in the national capital on Friday. A thick smog engulfed the city, with AQI dipping to hazardous in several places.

Delhi: Latest visuals from Rajpath. pic.twitter.com/uA3uZsXvvU — ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2018

The worst AQI was recorded at Wazirpur's Delhi Institute of Tool Engineering was 663 on Thursday morning. The AQI was hazardous in Satyawati and Anand Vihar.

Delhi recorded its worst air quality day after Diwali on Thursday. Authorities sprinkled water in ITO, Rohini, Dwarka, Ring Road and other areas of the national capital to reduce dust pollution.

The water sprinkling drive will continue for the next few days as part of anti-pollution measures, the official said.

Delhi: Latest visuals from Lodhi Garden. pic.twitter.com/YDbEB7726r

— ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2018

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Protection Authority Thursday said it was closely monitoring the situation and if the pollution shows an increasing trend then emergency measures will be imposed in the national capital.

The emergency measures would be implemented as prescribed under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Under the GRAP, stringent actions are implemented based on the air quality of the city. The measures like banning entry of heavy vehicles and odd-even scheme are implemented if the air quality slips to severe plus emergency category.

"We have already banned the entry of heavy vehicles in the city and are closely monitoring the situation and if the pollution shows an increasing trend then we will impose emergency measures," an EPCA member said. The Delhi government's transport department has already banned the entry of heavy vehicles in the city from 11 pm on Thursday to 11 pm on November 11 based on the recommendation of the Central Pollution Control Board.