Delhi's toxic air is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes a day; AQI remains in 'severe' category

Delhi-NCR continue to breath toxic air and efforts by the government in the national capital and neighbouring states have failed to show favourable results.On Thursday, Delhi remained shrouded in a blanket of toxic smog, with people of Delhi waking up to air quality that was recorded in the 'severe' category.Delhi's air quality ranks among the worst in the world's capital cities. Doctors say breathing in the polluted air of Delhi is equivalent to the harmful effects of smoking approximately 10 cigarettes a day.Prolonged exposure to high levels of pollution can cause or exacerbate respiratory problems such as asthma, bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and dramatically raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, said Rajesh Chawla, senior consultant in pulmonology and critical care at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.However, as per the IMD, there is a possibility of a slight improvement just ahead of Diwali as meteorological conditions are likely to become slightly favourable.At 8 am on Thursday, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots (indicating hazardous air quality) spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains.The situation of air quality was equally bad in neighbouring Ghaziabad (369), Gurugram (396), Noida (394), Greater Noida (450), and Faridabad (413).The weather office said there could be a possible change in wind direction from northwest to southeast due to a fresh western disturbance affecting northwest India which will help reduce the contribution of smoke from stubble burning, but slow wind speed will counteract this.However, once the western disturbance passes, the wind speed will increase from around 5-6 kmph, at present, to around 15 kmph on November 11, which will help disperse pollutants ahead of Diwali, an IMD official said.According to data from the Decision Support System, a numerical model-based framework capable of identifying sources of particulate matter pollution in Delhi, stubble burning in neighbouring states, particularly Punjab and Haryana, accounted for 38 per cent of the air pollution in Delhi on Wednesday. It is likely to be 27 per cent on Thursday and 12 per cent on Friday.The data also shows that transport is another major factor, contributing 12 to 14 per cent to Delhi's foul air.In view of the worsening air pollution, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the entry of app-based taxis into the national capital has been banned according to orders of the Supreme Court.He also said the odd-even car rationing scheme will be implemented in the national capital after the Supreme Court reviews its effectiveness and issues an order. The matter will be next heard on Friday.On Tuesday, the apex court questioned the effectiveness of the Delhi government's car rationing scheme, aimed at curbing vehicular pollution, and referred to it as "all optics".Anticipating further deterioration of air quality post-Diwali, Rai had on Monday announced that the flagship scheme, which permits cars to operate on alternate days based on the odd or even last digit of their registration numbers, would be enforced between November 13 and November 20.With inputs from PTI