New Delhi: A blanket of haze enveloped Delhi on Thursday, reducing visibility across the city as air pollution worsened, with the 24-hour average AQI in the ‘very poor’ category with a reading of 373, up from 334 a day earlier, according to official data.
Out of 40 air quality monitoring stations in the city, 15 recorded ‘severe’ air quality. Anand Vihar registered the highest reading at 441, in the ‘severe-plus’ category, while 24 stations recorded ‘very poor’ air quality, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) SAMEER app.
In the morning, the Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 358, according to the CPCB.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51–100 ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 ‘moderate’, 201–300 ‘poor’, 301–400 ‘very poor’ and 401–500 ‘severe’.
Data from the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management showed that transport remained the single largest contributor to Delhi’s pollution, accounting for 18.3 per cent of it.
Industries in Delhi and its peripheral areas contributed 9.2 per cent, followed by residential sources at 4.5 per cent and construction activities at 2.5 per cent.
Waste burning accounted for 1.6 per cent, road dust 1.3 per cent, other sectors 1.2 per cent, and power generation in Delhi contributed about 1.2 per cent.
Neighbouring NCR districts also added significantly to the pollution load, with Jhajjar contributing 12.3 per cent, Sonipat 8.8 per cent, Rohtak 4.8 per cent, Jind 3.1 per cent, Bhiwani 1.4 per cent and Gurugram 1.1 per cent.
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Friday and Saturday, and may deteriorate further to ‘severe’ on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Delhi recorded its coldest December day so far this season on Thursday, with the maximum temperature settling at 20.1 degrees Celsius, 2.1 notches below the normal, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The second-lowest maximum (daytime) temperature of the season was 23.7 degrees Celsius on December 4, while the third-lowest maximum stood at 24.3 degrees Celsius, recorded in November, India Meteorological Department (IMD) data showed.
In comparison, the lowest maximum temperature recorded in December last year was 14.6 degrees Celsius.
In previous years, the lowest maximum temperature in December was 15.9 degrees Celsius on December 31, 2023, 15.6 degrees Celsius on December 26, 2022, and 18 degrees Celsius on December 26, 2021, according to IMD data.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature was recorded at 9 degrees Celsius, which is 0.9 notches above the normal, the India Meteorological Department said.