Delhi: Pollution levels in Delhi have soared to hazardous heights, leading the government to implement GRAP Stage 4 measures. On Tuesday morning, the national capital woke up to a ‘severe’ Air Quality Index (AQI), with Anand Vihar recording an alarming AQI of 500 as of 6 am. According to official data, 20 monitoring stations across the city reported AQI levels reaching the maximum 500 mark by Monday evening. Additionally, in response to the GRAP Stage 4 restrictions, metro construction work has been halted in Saket.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the weather forecast for today predicts dense fog in the morning, which is expected to continue into the forenoon with moderate to dense intensity. As the day progresses, the sky will remain mainly clear, though shallow to moderate fog may be present during the afternoon and evening. By night, moderate fog is likely to develop again.
IMD has also issued an orange alert for dense fog today.
The Struggle To Breathe In National Capital
Meanwhile, Times Now spoke to people coming from other states of India, “everything is good but the pollution ruined the visit”.
“Coming from Mumbai, when we entered Delhi, we saw so much greenery. This is my first time here. But still, looking at the pollution, you can visibly see that there is a vast difference between Mumbai and Delhi. And we are very sad to say that although we are enjoying everything in Delhi here, the pollution is getting to you,” said a woman visiting the national capital.
“I know my friend who I'm travelling with is having a little bit of breathing difficulty. And we are consciously making sure that we breathe in a certain way, to be able to make sure that it does not affect us much,” she added.
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Meanwhile another woman who had just shifted to Delhi from Maharashtra highlighted that the dust is causing the most trouble.
“I think the dust is more problematic here. Recently, the GRAP 4 has been implemented. On my way to Qutub Minar, I saw a lot of construction activities still taking place. Some of it was also the metro constructions that are going on. Apart from the pollution, actually it's the dust that directly affects us and immediately affects us,” she added.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court criticised monitoring agencies for their inefficiency in addressing pollution. It questioned the authorities as to why stricter measures were not enforced in the national capital as well as the regions adjacent to it when the AQI levels had breached 400-mark nearly a week ago.