Delhi breathes easier as AQI in ‘poor’ category for 3rd day
NEW DELHI: Delhi residents received a respite from toxic pollution levels for the third consecutive day as the city’s AQI remained in the very “poor” category on Tuesday, recording a reading of 268.
The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city was recorded at 268 at 4 pm, registering a slight improvement from 280 on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Decision Support System (DSS), the primary tool used to assess and estimate the sources of pollution in Delhi, has not been updated since Friday.
The latest data available on the DSS website covers November 26 to November 29, with updates for the past four days missing.
Officials at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), which operates the DSS, acknowledged the delay, citing website issues. “We are experiencing a technical glitch with the website, but the DSS model is still running. We have been using the model continuously, except for Monday, when we encountered some issues,” a senior official at IITM said.
“We are working to resolve this problem,” the official said.
The latest update on November 26 showed stubble burning contributed 5.64 per cent to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels, down from 6.99 per cent on November 25. No further updates have been
provided since.
From November 27 to 29, vehicular emissions contributed 21-24.6 per cent to PM2.5, while “other sources” accounted for 22-24.6 per cent.
On Tuesday, five of Delhi’s 37 air quality monitoring stations recorded “very poor” air quality, with the rest in the “poor” category, according to the Sameer app. PM2.5 levels were recorded at 105 µg/m³ and PM10 at 204 µg/m³. The CPCB classifies an AQI of 201-300 as “poor” and 301-400 as “very poor”.
Light winds from the northwest are expected until evening, followed by a decrease. Smog and mist are likely in the evening, with a forecast for “poor” air quality from Tuesday to Thursday. Daytime temperatures reached 28.2°C, while the minimum was 10.5°C.
