Delhi gets Green War Room to monitor air pollution, AQI, stubble burning

Delhi government launches ‘Green War Room’ to tackle the menace of air pollution. The war room was launched by Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday. The war room will be closely monitoring air quality index, real-time air pollution levels, and stubble burning instances in neighbouring states. The war room will have a 10-member expert team who will work under two senior scientists of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), as per an Indian Express report.

Rai, who was speaking at the Delhi Secretariat, said that the war room has high-end technology. It is equipped with three large screens. These screens concentrate on different pollutants and focus on the status of 13 air pollution hotspots in Delhi. Apart from these experts in the war room will monitor satellite images from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) pertaining to stubble burning in real-time.

The Delhi government will also monitor complaints filed by the people through the Green Delhi application. The Green Delhi App will be launched by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the coming days. The Delhi government will monitor the complaints and implement strict action. The Delhi government will also monitor road sweeping and water sprinkling work done by the MCDs through GPS. Daily reports will be sent to CM Kejriwal, the Environment Minister, and the Environment Secretary, the Delhi Environment Minister said.

The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of Delhi on Friday is ‘moderate’ after it was ‘poor’ on Thursday with a reading of 187, as per data provided by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). On Thursday, it was 208 and On Wednesday, the AQI was 215, as per IE report.
The concentration of PM 2.5, emitted through combustion activities, is 87 micrograms per cubic metre air (µg/m3). The Concentration of PM 10, comprising dust and smoke, is 187 µg/m3. The forecast for tomorrow shows PM10 (µgm-3) will be 206 and PM2.5 (µgm-3) will be 95 in ‘poor’ category, as per data provided by the SAFAR at 12 PM on October 8 in Delhi-NCR.