Delhi's Pollution Warning: Air Quality Display Boards Black Out Amid Pollution Spike

3 months ago

This special report focuses on Delhi's alarming air pollution crisis, the government's plan to induce artificial rain through cloud seeding, and the political blame game over stubble burning. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has confirmed a successful trial for cloud seeding, with the first attempt at artificial rain proposed for October 29 if weather conditions are favourable. The report also highlights an India Today investigation that found crucial Air Quality Index (AQI) display boards in the city, meant to warn the public, are non-functional. Amid the crisis, a political row has erupted, with one official stating, 'We just want to defame the people of Punjab.' This comes alongside claims from Punjab that stubble burning incidents have seen a significant reduction.

Transcript

00:00And now shifting focus, even though Delhi's air quality showed slight improvement on Thursday,

00:05it remained in the very poor category for the fourth consecutive day.

00:09As the capital seeks respite, it is preparing to witness its first ever artificial rain through cloud seeding on October 29th.

00:16The first trial of the project has been successfully conducted.

00:20A cloud seeding flight was tested on Thursday in Buradi and other areas where cloud seeding flares were deployed using pyro techniques.

00:27Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has confirmed that if clouds persist over the capital,

00:31as predicted by the Met Department, artificial rain will be induced on October 29th across multiple areas.

00:39Now the rainfall generated is likely to help reduce pollution levels.

00:43The Chief Minister has called the project historic from a technological perspective,

00:47highlighting its role as a scientific solution to tackle air pollution.

00:57So the first thing is, this is the first right thing where the northern part of India is supported.

01:03The trud part of the country is expected to take a Peach's work and the middle part of India is expected to wake up as a national level.

01:09After that, the changes of war, the international State here are still on October 29th.

01:13The rest of the country will ensure that this state of India will be better and better in order to ensure that the爾 sands are pushed out.

01:17.

01:47We have no chance to leave any of these places.

01:49When the people of the country have been a majority of six,

01:54they have been doing their own.

01:57We are trying to stop the people of Punjab and Punjab.

02:01We have to stop the problems of our lives.

02:04We have to stop the people of the country.

02:07We have to stop the people of the country.

02:10I'm going to leave this video with all the people in the country,

02:17we have given them this issue.

02:20Then we will make all the curious people,

02:22just in Punjab,

02:23I don't want to say it.

02:24We can't say that these people,

02:25but we can't say it.

02:26We can't say it.

02:27We can't say it.

02:32We can't say it.

02:32But we can't say it.

02:35It says that it will not be the same thing.

02:37Just in Punjab,

02:38we can't say it.

02:39So air quality in Delhi has plunged again. Most parts of the city are breathing very poor air.

02:45As pollution levels spike across Delhi, India today has found that the city's air quality display boards

02:51meant to warn the citizens aren't even working. Take a look at this report.

03:02Pollution spikes once again in the national capital, with air quality dipping to very poor levels.

03:08Across Delhi, most air monitoring stations are recording PM 2.5 levels above 300, squarely in very poor category.

03:19At several stations, readings have crossed 400, touching the severe mark.

03:26Delhi has 39 air quality monitoring stations, all functional according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

03:33But what's missing are the display boards meant to inform the public.

03:38India Today's ground check found that at Lothi Road, near the Indian Med Department office,

03:45the AQI display is completely non-functional.

03:47It's written below the display board that this is the air quality display system for the Indian Meteorological Department.

03:56That is one of the stations, out of the 39 stations, where the DPCC, which is the Delhi Pollution Control Board,

04:02as well as the Central Pollution Control Board, display their air quality index.

04:07While the board may not be working, but when you look at the CPCB website for National Air Quality Index,

04:13on Lothi Road today, the pollution level is at 312, which is in the very poor category.

04:21This is the Lothi Road data only for today, at this particular time.

04:26At ITO, another key CPCB station, the readings on display have remained unchanged for the last two days.

04:34The data hasn't been updated at all.

04:37The current AQI on this Pollution Index Board, which is part of the monitoring station at ITO,

04:47is currently showing a PM 2.5 of 113 unit micrograms per meter.

04:54I've opened this here.

04:56Delhi is in the very poor category of 320.

05:00So, this is the app that actually shows the pollution level.

05:06And even if you go on the CPCB website, for the ITO station, if I can just increase the brightness,

05:14the ITO CPCB station shows pollution at 339.

05:19The situation is similar across other stations too.

05:23In a city gasping for clean air, the least people deserve is to see how bad it is.

05:29With Milan Sharma in New Delhi, Bureau Report, India Today.

Delhi's Pollution Warning: Air Quality Display Boards Black Out Amid Pollution Spike

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