Gurgaon: GRAP measures likely if city air quality doesn’t improve by Saturday

With the city’s air quality marked ‘very poor’ over two consecutive days, the state pollution board is considering implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) if the level of pollution doesn’t come down significantly by Saturday.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city’s air quality index (AQI) on Thursday was 359, up from 322 on Wednesday. Even on Tuesday, the AQI was marked ‘poor’, at 228.

The increase in the level of pollutants in the city air has evoked concern from weather experts. Officials of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said that they are in the process of compiling data on the steady rise in the city’s AQI figures over the last few days.

The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 9.7°C on Thursday and the maximum was recorded at 23.4°C.

“We are on alert and the situation is being monitored. We will discuss the city’s air quality at the meeting with the CPCB members on Friday. We will discuss what action to take at the review meeting," JB Sharma, regional officer, HSPCB, Gurgaon, said.

Officials of the pollution control department said that the city’s air quality over the next 48 hours will be monitored.

The sudden rise in the level of pollutants in the city has a lot to do with the burning of waste in the open to keep warm in winder, the officials claimed.

“The city’s air quality was marked ‘moderate’ for a few days because of rain and good wind speed. However, with no rain, so far, this week and no check on incidents of open waste burning, the pollutants are unable to dissipate. This has resulted in a dip in air quality,” Shakti Singh, environmental engineer, HSPCB, said.

Read I Gurgaon: MCG, NHAI details steps taken to reduce pollution

Because of the rise in the level of pollutants, the smog has returned to the city bringing visibility down to less than 50 metres, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. He said that the visibility is likely to go down further by the next week, as the minimum temperature is likely to fall by 2°C.