Delhi's air quality deteriorates again, slips into 'very poor' category at 332 AQI

New Delhi, Dec 26 (PTI) After two days of brief relief, the national capital’s air quality slipped back into the 'very poor' category at 332, with several monitoring stations recording 'severe' pollution levels.

Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 332 at 4 pm on Friday, slipping into the very poor category, compared to 234 recorded on Thursday and 271 at the same time a day earlier, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Out of the 38 functional air quality monitoring stations in the city, of a total of 40, eight stations recorded severe air quality with AQI readings above 400.

These included Anand Vihar, Bawana, DTU, Jahangirpuri, Narela, Nehru Nagar, Rohini and Vivek Vihar. As many as 20 stations were in the very poor category, while nine stations recorded poor air quality, as per data from CPCB’s SAMEER app.

According to the CPCB classification, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51–100 satisfactory, 101–200 moderate, 201–300 poor, 301–400 very poor and 401–500 severe.

Data from the Decision Support System (DSS) for Air Quality Management showed vehicular emissions were the largest contributor to Delhi's pollution load on Wednesday, accounting for 19.7 per cent, followed by industries in Delhi and its periphery at 10.1 per cent and residential sources at 4.9 per cent.

Among NCR districts, Jhajjar in Haryana contributed the highest share to Delhi's pollution at 20 per cent, followed by Sonipat (4 per cent), Panipat (4 per cent), Gurugram (4 per cent) and Rohtak (2.3 per cent, the data showed).

The Air Quality Early Warning System forecast that Delhi's air quality is likely to remain in the very poor category over the next six days.

On the weather front, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 22.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, 1.6 degrees above normal, while the minimum temperature settled at 7.7 degrees Celsius, slightly below normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Relative humidity levels ranged between 66 per cent and 100 per cent.

The IMD forecasts a maximum and minimum temperature of around 22 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively, on Saturday, with dense fog expected over the next few days. PTI NSM NSM HIG HIG