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The national capital's air quality has deteriorated to an extent that the pollution levels have turned "worse than in pre-CNG times." It is just a few days after 'good' air quality in Delhi that the pollution levels have gone up due to local factors.
A Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) official said the rise in pollution level is due to local factors especially the vehicular pollution.
"After the monsoon subsided, the local reasons resulted in increase of pollution in the city," he said.
Monsoon rain had improved the air quality in the last two months. Since July, the air quality remained 'satisfactory' and even witnessed three days of 'good' category.
"Pollution levels in Delhi have become worse than in pre-CNG era. Because of the noise made by the vehicles previously, CNG was introduced, following which the levels of pollution in the early 2000s came down, but we did not have the vision to sustain that,” All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Randeep Guleria was quoted as saying by Financial Express.
Talking about the diseases caused by the alarming level of pollution, Guleria said: “In 1990, almost 60 per cent diseases were communicable, maternal, neo-natal and nutritional diseases. That figure has now come down to around 32 per cent. Non-communicable diseases, on the other hand, have gone from around 30 per cent in 1990 to around 55.4 per cent in 2016. This has meant a huge change in terms of health care providers too."
