New Delhi (NVI): The national capital continues to reel under air pollution as the air quality index stood in the ‘severe’ category for sixth consecutive day with the AQI recorded at 474 this morning.
According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the AQI is at 469 in ITO, 489 in Narela, 497 in Sector 51, Gurugram, and 480 in Sector 62, Noida, all in the ‘severe category’.
As the national capital’s air quality deteriorated, visibility remained poor fed by smoke from farm fires in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
The city’s overall air quality index (AQI) stood at 487 at around 9 am, as per the CPCB data.
However, the AQI stood at 477 on Monday, the highest since November 3 last year when it was 494. Its 24-hour average AQI was 416 on Sunday, 427 on Saturday, 406 on Friday and 450 on Thursday.
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 Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air monitoring agency SAFAR said, PM2.5 has now become the lead pollutant instead of PM10 as a characteristic of wintertime.
Officials at the monitoring stations informed that, calm wind speeds were worsening the effect of stubble burning and a quick recovery is not possible unless the number of farm fires reduces drastically.
Furthermore, to tackle air pollution the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR from November 9 midnight to November 30.
-RJV
