New Delhi (NVI): The air quality in Delhi was recorded in the ‘severe category’ at several places this morning and is even expected to turn worse in some parts of the national capital.
According to the the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) was at 422 in Anand Vihar at around 9 am, 407 in RK Puram, 450 in ITO, 421 in Dwarka and 430 in Bawana, all five in the ‘severe’ category.
This is for the second consecutive day when the AQI remained under ‘severe’ category in Delhi. The overall air quality recorded at 486 this morning in the national capital, the air quality monitoring agency, SAFAR said.
On Thursday, the city recorded the worst air quality index since November 14 last year as the AQI level at several places remained above 500.
The CPCB also noted that the concentration of major air pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 are high in Delhi.
On the the hand, the neighbouring cities of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Noida also recorded ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ category air quality, as per the CPCB data.
An AQI between 0-50 is marked good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate,201-300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor and 401-500 is considered severe.
Meanwhile, the air monitoring agencies have said that unfavourable meteorological conditions like calm winds, low temperatures and smoke emanating from farm fires in the neighbouring states have led to a dense layer of haze in Delhi.
The national capital struggles with air pollution mostly provoked by stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana which is also expected to increase over the next few days.
Furthermore, in order to combat the rising air pollution and coronavirus cases in the national capital, the Delhi government yesterday announced the imposition of a ban on the sale, purchasen and use of firecrackers from November 7 to November 30.
-RJV
