Air quality in Capital turns 'severe' once again

New Delhi: The air quality in the city slipped into the 'severe' category again on Thurday, according to Central Pollution Control Board data

While the forecasters on Wednesday predicted the air quality was likely to improve on the back of stronger winds, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi stood at 426 at 9.10 am.

An AQI of above 400 is considered severe and can affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing illnesses.

Anand Vihar and Jahangirpuri were the most polluted places in the capital with AQI at 460.

The areas that recorded Severe AQI are Alipur (439), Ashok Vihar (444), Bawana (456), Burari (443), Mathura Road (412), DTU (436), Dwarka (408), ITO (435), Mundka (438), Narela (447), Nehru Nagar (433), Patparganj (441), Rohini (453), Sonia Vihar (444), Vivek Vihar (444) and Wazirpur (444).

The AQI continued to remain in the very poor' category in Ghaziabad (391), Noida (388), Greater Noida (390), Gurugram (391) and Faridabad (347), the CPCB data stated.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

This comes a day after Punjab reported the highest number of farm fires. According to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Punjab reported 3,634 farm fires on Wednesday, the highest this year so far.

SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, had earlier said stubble burning accounted for 32 per cent of the PM2.5 pollution in the capital on Wednesday.

Transport-level winds blow in the lowest two layers of the atmosphere — the troposphere and stratosphere — and carry smoke from farm fires to the national capital region.

PM2.5 are lung-damaging fine particles that are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter and can travel deep into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs and entering the bloodstream.

Environment Minister Gopal Rai will convene a high-level meeting on Friday to discuss the implementation of curbs on polluting activities under the final stage of the Graded Response Action Plan, officials said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to check pollution in Delhi-NCR will not impact the construction work of the upcoming international airport in Noida, officials said on Thursday.

The greenfield airport is coming up in Jewar, some 75 km off Delhi, along the

Yamuna Expressway. The airport is being developed in four phases and the first phase is scheduled to be inaugurated in September 2024.