Delhi’s air quality stays ‘poor’ for third straight day

New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘poor’ category for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, with some monitoring stations recording levels that slipped into the ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ categories.

Emissions from transportation account for approximately 19.2 per cent of Delhi’s air pollution, according to the Centre’s Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi. Another major contributor to the worsening air quality is stubble burning in neighbouring states. Satellite data on Wednesday reported 99 fire incidents in Punjab, 14 in Haryana, 59 in UP, and one in Delhi. As winter approaches, Delhi residents are already feeling the impact of worsening air quality as the Air Quality Index reading of 230 at 4 am on Wednesday is a decline from Tuesday’s reading of 207 at the main monitoring station.