The dense cover of grey haze shrouding Delhi for almost a week, reminiscent of the 1952 Great Smog in London, on Sunday plunged the city’s air quality to the season’s worst, with even the 24-hour-average threatening to go past the maximum limit.
The real-time readings of respirable pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 breached the safe standards by over 17 times at many places. The hourly AQI (air quality index) of monitoring stations run by CPCB and SAFAR remained 500 plus, which is beyond the maximum limit.Delhi government also decided to shut down the coal- based Badarpur power plant, considered one of the key sources of pollution, for 10 days from 7th Nov. The plant generates around 300MW of power.All schools have been shut for three days.
