PWD vehicles sprinkle water in Delhi to reduce dust amid rise in air pollution

New Delhi: Public Work Department vehicles on Sunday sprinkled water in parts of the national capital to reduce the dust amidst the rise in air pollution.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has invoked the Stage II GRAP Action Plan across the National Capital Region. This includes carrying out mechanical/vacuum sweeping and water sprinkling of the identified roads on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the AQI level in Delhi today was recorded as 352, categorized as 'very Poor', according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
Moreover, AQI in Anand Vihar area crossed the 400 mark, being recorded as 405 at 7 AM, categorized as 'severe', worse than the AQI of 367 recorded on Saturday.
AQI at the Akshardham Temple deteriorated 261, whereas IGI airport recorded an AQI of 324, both categorized as 'very poor.'
A layer of thick smog enveloped certain parts of the city.Himanshu, a visitor to the national capital said that the increasing pollution feels 'suffocating.'
"It feels suffocating due to pollution...The govt should look into what can be done to reduce pollution," he told ANI.Moreover, a cyclist in the city told ANI that they are facing a lot of problems with breathing."We are from Delhi and we (the cyclist group) cycle daily here, but this situation of air pollution since the last few days we are facing a lot of problems. We can't breathe properly, we get tired faster due to the pollution. We take precautions like wearing a bandana but nothing is working because the pollution is increasing a lot," he said.
He further said that the measures taken by the government don't seem effective enough, and the government should encourage the people to use public transport more.
"The government did some work like stopping construction and implementing odd-even but it doesn't seem like it is working as this is increasing day by day. There should be constructive measures to encourage people to use public transport and carpooling," he added.
As the festival of lights nears, the Delhi government has also banned firecrackers till January 1 amid efforts to curb pollution levels.