Delhi pollution crisis: CPCB’s Sameer App goes silent; no AQI updates

New Delhi: The Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Sameer App and website did not display updated Air Quality Index data for Delhi on Monday.

The Sameer App, which provides AQI information from all monitoring stations across the city, stopped updating data after Monday afternoon while the 24-hour average AQI, which is usually released at 4 pm every day, had also not been updated till 6.30 pm.

Officials did not immediately provide the reason for the disruption.

According to the AQI bulletin, Delhi’s air quality remained in the “very poor” category, with a reading of 345 since morning and no further updates through the day.

This is not the first time such a disruption has occurred this season. Several similar instances were reported during and after Diwali when AQI data remained unavailable for hours.

On Sunday, Delhi’s AQI had touched 391 in the morning -- the highest recorded so far this season -- while the 24-hour average AQI settled at 370, also in the “very poor” category, according to CPCB data.

The Decision Support System (DSS) for air quality forecasting showed that stubble burning contributed 0 per cent to Delhi’s pollution on Monday, while the transport sector accounted for around 21.4 per cent.

Satellite-based stubble-burning data has also not been updated since November 8. The last available figures showed 42 incidents in Punjab, 158 in Uttar Pradesh, and 42 in Haryana on Saturday.

During the day, Delhi’s air turned visibly hazy, with morning visibility dropping to 1,000 metres at both Palam and Safdarjung.

By evening, visibility improved slightly to 2,100 metres at Palam and 1,500 metres at Safdarjung, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).