The Delhi government has launched a control centre - what it has called a green war room - which will operate all day, every day (24/7) to monitor the Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city with additional staff.
Delhi’s environment Minister, Gopal Rai, has set the threshold of AQI 201. The city also had AQI reading of 155 on Tuesday which falls into the "moderate" category.
AQI is an indicator of air pollution: a reading between zero and 50 is "good", between 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe". Prolonged exposure to an AQI which is "very poor" or worse is likely to cause respiratory problems. Delhi's AQI at this time of the year often falls below 200.
Rai said a total of 17 staff will work in the war room and they will respond to complaints received on the mobile app.
“Complaints received on the app are jointly taken up by 28 Central and Delhi government departments. Nodal officers have been appointed in every department to operate this app,” he said.
Rai also said that an anti-dust campaign will begin on 5 October.
The central government has also recommended a set of measures to combat air pollution which are being used by the Delhi-NCR region in the winter season, and the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) came into force in the city from 1 October.
Apart from stubble burning, the other reasons for the deteriorating AQI are the drop in temperature and low wind speeds (around this time of the year), making it difficult to disperse pollutants.