National capital Delhi is battling with pollution since the beginning of November. Pollution levels became severe November 7 onward, however, there was a temporal relief in between. Moreover, the year 2018 can be termed as the most polluted year, since last one decade or so. If we look at the records for Delhi, pollution levels usually start decreasing after 2nd or 3rd week of December. However, this time, even at the fag end of the year, pollution levels are so high that Delhiites are gasping for fresh air.
Reason for this prolonged spell of severe pollution can be attributed to the absence of winter rains this year. Rains usually wash away the pollutants present in the air. Another reason can be the absence of prolonged moderate winds from northwest direction. Whenever moderate winds continue from a direction for four-five days, they carry away the pollutants and spread it in a wider area leading to improvement in pollution levels. This was the case during the third week of December as well when pollution levels showed a marginal decline.
As Delhi’s air pollution levels keep hitting new records, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday talked about the possibility of bringing back the vehicle rationing scheme, ‘Odd-Even’, if need be.
Severe pollution levels are continuing in Delhi since last two-three days. However, this cloud is showing a silver lining as now we expect a gradual improvement in the rising pollution levels. Dry winds from Northwest have commenced and the speed has also picked up. We expect these winds to continue for the next three-four days which will disperse the pollutants to some extent. Immediate relief is not in sight, but gradual relief might be foreseen.
Image Credits – The Indian Wire
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