AQI: E-rickshaw curbs among new quick fixes

DElhi voiceless “ really poor” beam for a 7th square day on Monday and relief is unlikely till Christmas, agencies said, as a soupy haze sheathed the Capital, with the state government announcing it would shore up measures on the ground to keep pollution in check.Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta said the government will introduce new regulations to curb congestion due to “uncontrolled e-rickshaws”, make pollution-under-control (PUC) certificate fines more stringent by preventing waivers and plans to operate ‘pooling and sharing e-buses’ in NCR with the help of aggregator companies.State environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, meanwhile, warned of action against polluting industries as well as private companies that do not adhere to ongoing orders requiring 50% staff to work from home.The Capital clocked a 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of 373 at 4pm on Monday, marginally lower than 377 the previous day, but the 12th day this reading has been in the red zone or worse on the pollution scale. Indeed, the city has not had a single day of sub-200 AQI so far this December, as compared to six such days in the first 22 days of the month last year, showed data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The lowest AQI this month was 259 on December 10. By 11pm, the AQI worsened to 390.Fog reduced visibility to 150 metres early on Monday, delaying over 500 flights and cancelling 14. At least 30 trains were delayed by 30 minutes or more.“Congestion causes vehicles to burn more fuel, which directly contributes to pollution. To address this problem, the Delhi government will soon issue new e-rickshaw guidelines. These rules will regulate the operating areas and routes of e-rickshaws, ensuring smooth traffic flow,” Gupta said at the Delhi Secretariat after a review meeting.“Citizens’ convenience is important, but public health is non-negotiable. Everyone must adhere to pollution control directives,” Sirsa said, adding that since Thursday — when restrictions on vehicles without a valid PUC came into effect (such vehicles are being denied fuel) — over 200,000 vehicles have tested for certificates and over 10,000 failed.On the same day, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region held its 26th full commission meeting and reviewed existing measures to tighten air pollution in the region. A key discussion centred on end-of-life vehicles, with CAQM reiterating the apex court’s December 17 order to end protection to old BS-3 vehicles. “Protection against coercive action continues for BS-IV and later emission standard vehicles, while restrictions on taking action against highly polluting BS-3 and lower emission standard vehicles have been lifted,” CAQM said.The meeting also ratified the revised anti-pollution Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), modified in line with Supreme Court directions, and reviewed its implementation this season, including traffic decongestion, public advisories, uninterrupted power supply and augmentation of public transport.But despite the flurry of measures, Delhi’s over 33 million residents are unlikely to breathe easy. Forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) show that despite stronger winds, Delhi’s AQI will remain “very poor” for four days at least.“The air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 23-25. The outlook for the subsequent six days from December 26 shows the air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category,” said the EWS.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has no colour-coded alerts in place till December 28, forecasting shallow to moderate fog in Delhi for this entire period. It has also forecast strong surface winds of up to 20 km/h during the day. However, meteorological experts also said a feeble western disturbance is expected from December 28 till December 31, which is likely to lead to make winds calm again and bring back dense fog.“We expect wind speeds to gradually increase from Tuesday as the western disturbance weakens. Strong and cold northwesterly winds will become dominant, leading to fog intensity reduction but temperatures dipping too,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet.A vast stretch of fog clotted large parts of the northern plains. IMD data between 7.30am and 8.30am showed zero visibility was recorded at Amritsar, Bathinda, Halwara, Kanpur, Ayodhya, Bareilly and Jabalpur. It was 50 metres at Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, Gaya, Rourkela and Khajuraho.“Dense fog was recorded at Palam as visibility touched 150 metres. Fog impacted Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, west and northern Rajasthan, north Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura,” said an IMD official.Delhi’s maximum on Monday stood at 21.8°C – one degree above normal. The minimum was 11°C, which was four degrees above normal. IMD has forecast that the minimum will dip sharply to between 6°C and 8°C by Christmas. The maximum is also likely to be impacted by cold northwesterly winds and should be below 20°C from December 24 onwards.