With the official opening of the athletes' village yesterday,in the midst of thick fog, pressure is piling on the government to bring the city's air quality problems under control before the start of the Games in just 11 days.

According to Environmental officials, Government is going to take new measures but after giving the public a little forward notice before activating them.

Li Xin, a senior engineer at the Beijing Environmental Protection Buearu, said: "We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance if the air quality deteriorates during the August 8-24 Games."

Environmental authorities told that there is nothing to worry about and they will take sufficient measures to avoid anything like that.

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing city Environmental Protection Bureau, said at the weekend: “Good air quality does not necessarily mean blue sky. You might not be able to see things in a bathroom, but you would not conclude that it’s due to pollution.” He added: “We should judge whether there is pollution by scientific statistics, not by what our eyes can see.”

According to the study in last weekend after half the cars taken off the streets, construction ordered to halt and many factories closed for miles around, the air pollution index for particulate matter – a major airborne pollutant – was at a reasonable 67. But, even with so many vehicles off the streets, the index soared on Thursday to 113, peaked at 118 on Saturday and was still at 113 on Sunday. No number is yet available for today, but the air looks as thick as ever with many tall buildings hidden by haze.

Temperature conditions are also a problem in Beijing. On Sunday, temperatures of well above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), coupled with 70 percent humidity and scarcely a breath of wind, created a soupy mix of harmful chemicals, particulate matter and water vapour.

The national environmental protection bureau website showed Beijing yesterday in the III 1 category – defined as having the potential to affect people with respiratory problems severely and to make breathing difficult for others. That ranked the capital as third from the bottom of a list of China’s most polluted cities.

Mr Du admitted that “The air quality in August will be good.”

Athletes entering the newly opened Olympic Village on Sunday could barely make out the Bird’s Nest through the smog. The Firewall of China is also blocking the sites that provide information about the smog conditions in Beijing to ensure the secrecy of the fog condition.

One expert warned that drastic measures enacted to cut vehicle and factory emissions in the city were no guarantee skies would be clear during competitions. Fresh draconian anti-pollution measures are also ready to install to combat the smog in time for the Olympics.

Source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4414228.ece