Temperature rises by 5 degrees due to dust; no relief for 48 hours

Low visibility due to dusty weather conditions led to cancellations of all flights to and from the Chandigarh International Airport today, while the Haryana pollution control Board advised against construction activities in National Capital Region (NCR) districts for the next two days.

New Delhi: No relief can be expected from the dust for next 48 hours, which has sprawled in Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. The dust has also led to rise in the minimum temperature from 28 degrees to 33; that is by 5 degrees. As per environment experts, the people would have to suffer like this till it rains. A thick layer of dust can be seen in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan from past few days; which have made it difficult for people to breathe. Low visibility due to dusty weather conditions led to cancellations of all flights to and from the Chandigarh International Airport today, while the Haryana pollution control Board advised against construction activities in National Capital Region (NCR) districts for the next two days. A Chandigarh International Airport Limited official said, "As a result of disruption due to bad weather, all flights from Chandigarh were cancelled today." The weather department here said a ground-level dust storm in Rajasthan, with wind speeds up to 40 kmph, had led to a spike in the levels of coarse particles in the air in most parts of Haryana and Punjab, including Chandigarh, since Wednesday. Taking cognizance of these facts, the Pollution Control Board has also issued an advisory to all deputy commissioners and municipal commissioners of NCR districts in Haryana to ensure frequent sprinkling of water to help settle the dust, to keep strict vigil on the garbage burning activities through deployment of special teams, increasing frequency of mechanised cleaning of roads and identifying road stretches with the high dust generation for addressing the issues.