“The Capital’s plan to combat poor air quality may see a redesign soon with a new study giving authorities insights into what really causes pollution, something there has been little information about so far.The draft report of a study [the final report is due out next month], which was started in 2013 by the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, was recently submitted to the Delhi government’s Environment and Forest Department. The study on “source apportionment of particulate matter” looked into origins of finer particles (PM 2.5) and coarse ones (PM 10).”
“As per the draft, vehicular emission and secondary particles amount for about 60 per cent of pollutants in the winter. Though finer particles are known to be the most dangerous for health, depending on their components they could be even worse. If the PM 2.5 is mostly made of benzene, which is emitted by burning of coal, it could be carcinogenic. The report also has suggestions on how to tackle each category of pollutant.” The Hindu. Read it on delhiair.org.
delhiair.org - be informed and active about air quality in New Delhi, India 