New Delhi: A thick veil of smog descended over the capital on Friday, with the average AQI settling at 327,
in the ‘very poor’ category, while the city shivered on its coldest December morning so far this year with the
mercury dipping to 5.6 degrees Celsius.
The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 327, after clocking 323 during the morning hours when 30 monitoring stations across the capital logged ‘very poor’ air quality. Bawana reported the worst AQI at 373, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
By 6 pm, 31 of the 39 stations assessed had fallen into the ‘very poor’ range, with R K Puram registering one of the highest AQI readings at 370, the CPCB’s Sameer app showed.
According to the CPCB standards, an AQI between 0 and 50 is classified ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500 ‘severe’.
Meanwhile, according to the Decision Support System (DSS) for Delhi’s air quality management, vehicular emissions remained the highest local contributor at 15.3 per cent. Industries in Delhi and surrounding areas added 7.6 per cent, followed by residential emissions (3.7 per cent), construction dust (2.1 per cent) and waste burning (1.3 per cent).
Among neighbouring NCR districts, Jhajjar contributed 14.3 per cent pollutants, Rohtak 5 per cent, Sonipat 3.8 per cent, Bhiwani 2.5 per cent and Gurugram 1.5 per cent, the DSS analysis showed.
Delhi’s air quality has swung sharply through the week. Delhi recorded an AQI of 279 on Sunday, which dipped to 304 on Monday. Pollution levels shot up to 372 on Tuesday, edging towards the ‘severe’ threshold, before easing slightly to 342 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ bracket at 304.