City’s air quality in ‘very poor’ category
New Delhi: The air quality in Delhi stayed in the ‘very poor’ category for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday.
The pollution rose from the previous day’s level, with air quality recordings in over 10 monitoring stations slipping into the ‘severe’ category, a level known to pose health risks even to otherwise healthy people.
The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) reading settled at 374, up from 351 recorded on Monday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Data on the CPCB’s Sameer app showed that 12 stations recorded AQI levels in the ‘severe’ category on Tuesday, compared to only two the day before.
Punjabi Bagh, Wazirpur, Nehru Nagar, Ashok Vihar, Jahangirpuri, Rohini, Vivek Vihar and several other stations reported AQI readings above 400.
In contrast, 11 out of 39 stations in the city had recorded ‘severe’ AQI on Sunday.
As per CPCB standards, an AQI between 0-50 is ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’,
301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.
Meanwhile, the Decision Support System of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, showed that vehicular emissions contributed 18.1 per cent to Delhi’s pollution on Tuesday, while stubble burning accounted for 5.4 per cent. For Wednesday, these contributions are projected to be 20 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively.
Satellite imagery detected 31 farm fire incidents in Punjab, 10 in Haryana, 384 in
Uttar Pradesh, and one in Delhi on Monday.
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the city’s AQI is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ range for the next six days.
On the weather front, the minimum temperature was recorded at 9.6 degrees Celsius , 2.7 notches below normal, while the maximum settled at 26.4 degrees Celsius, 1.4 notches below normal, according to the India Meteorological Department.
For Wednesday, the weather department has forecast moderate fog, with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to settle around 26 and 9 degrees Celsius, respectively.
