Anand Vihar remains notorious hot spot of localised air pollution

Even in Delhi - a city that has earned grim global recognition for its pollution - Anand Vihar stands apart. While the Capital has long been a cautionary tale for pollution, this chaotic part of east Delhi has emerged as an even more polluted anomaly within the city.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

Post-monsoon showers in the first half of October kept Delhi's skies blue and the air quality index (AQI) between “satisfactory” and “moderate” levels, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. But not in Anand Vihar.

On October 13, when Delhi's average AQI was 189 (“moderate”), Anand Vihar’s monitor registered 346 - deep in the “very poor” zone. Over the next week, even as citywide levels crept from “moderate” to “poor,” Anand Vihar's numbers hovered more than 100 points higher, sliding from “very poor” to “severe.”

Then on October 19, even before firecrackers began to dominate the city’s emission load, Anand Vihar’s AQI had soared to 423, marking its first foray into the “severe” level. In comparison, Delhi's average AQI that day was 296.

On Diwali night, while Delhi's AQI soared to 345 (“very poor”), the same figure in Anand Vihar was around 50 points higher (404, in the “severe” zone again).

Localised factors

An east Delhi pollution hub, being a melting pot of railway station, interstate bus terminal (ISBT), industrial roads and roads unfit to cater to its footfall, Anand Vihar comfortably experiences the worst-end of the pollution spectrum, experts said.

“You have the ISBT, the railway station and the metro station, which draws in a lot of passenger traffic and movement of buses.