The capital’s air quality remained in the ‘moderate’ category on Sunday but is likely to deteriorate to the ‘poor’ category in the next three days. The air quality is expected to worsen due to increased farm fires and local and regional sources of pollution. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the overall Air Quality Index of the capital was 168 on Sunday.

L S Kurinji, programme associate, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), said, “Delhi’s PM2.5 concentration has started showing an increasing trend, with daily average PM2.5 levels exceeding the permissible limit of 60 ug/m3 for the past three days. Estimates by urban emissions indicate open fires, transport and emissions from industries and power plants as the leading sources of pollution in the capital. Meanwhile, farm fires in Punjab and Haryana are also on the rise. Between September 1 and October 10, Satellites reported over 676 and 193 fires in Punjab and Haryana.”

She added the farm fires were mostly spotted in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Patiala in Punjab and Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal and Ambala in Haryana. “In the coming weeks, with changes in meteorological conditions, emissions from local and regional sources would only cause deterioration in air quality. Therefore, Delhi government should use the air quality forecast and roll out GRAP measures in advance to prevent unhealthy air quality conditions in the city,” said Kurinji.

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the forecasting body under the union ministry of earth sciences, said, “The AQI is in the ‘moderate’ category with PM10 due to fire emission upwind along with local and regional dust under dry conditions. With the presence of such dry conditions, both fire emission and dust suspension are going to degrade it.”