Air in Lutyens’ Delhi harmful

New Delhi: There is a substantial presence of PM 1 ultrafine and ultra dangerous particles in the Lodhi Road area, which is considered to be one of the greenest areas in the city and potentially less polluted. This was revealed in a recent study by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), which comes under the ministry of earth sciences.

Particulate matter (PM) 1 particles have a diameter of less than 1 micron and are much smaller than PM 2.5 and can easily penetrate deep into the lungs or enter the blood stream, causing cardiovascular problems and damage to the inner walls of the arteries.

The monitoring station of SAFAR has recorded that the average volume of PM 1 during summer, winter, and the monsoon remains around 46, 49, and 20 micrograms per cubic metre respectively.

However, it has not attracted much attention till now as the safe standards of PM 1 have not been defined yet, in the absence of which its potentially harmful effects have not been documented, said scientist Gufran Beig, the project director of SAFAR. 

PM 1 is a major product of vehicular combustion. The roads in and around the Lodhi Road area, like other parts of Lutyens’ zone, see a huge flow of vehicles. Presently, there are only SAFAR monitors PM 1 in the national capital. The Delhi government was also planning to monitor the ultrafine particles in the new monitoring stations that are to be installed by October. 

The prescribed 24-hour-average of PM 2.5 is 60 micrograms per cubic metre while the same is 100 in case of PM 10 in India.