It’s that time of the year again. Diwali is here and so is the Delhi pollution with the respiratory issues. Even after Supreme Courts ban on all existing crackers, allowing only “green crackers” which aren’t available in the market, we could hear crackers being burst in the days leading to Diwali in some areas of Delhi NCR.
On 6 November, a day before Diwali, Delhi’s air quality was 418 which is “hazardous” at 11am. While other major Indian cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata were either around or below 100.
The situation has been bad for more than two weeks now. And earlier, CPCB had warned that it may only get worse towards Diwali. Here’s a monitor where you can check the level of pollution in your city and area.
With air quality in areas breaching levels that are beyond hazardous, it’s time to be aware, to know what you are breathing and how your lungs are getting clogged.
The monitor shows the PM 2.5 fine particulate matter levels. An AQI level of above 300 is considered severe. In Delhi, currently, most areas have AQI levels above 400. Please keep in mind though that an AQI monitor was never made to read levels beyond 999. Levels in some parts of the city hit 1500 last year after Diwali.
Now that you know what are the PM 2.5 levels in your area, calculate how many minutes of your life is it taking away.
(With inputs from IANS)
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