Delhi's air turns hazardous again; multiple stations breach 'severe' mark

New Delhi: Air quality in Delhi deteriorated further on Tuesday evening, reaching an AQI of 372 and edging closer to the 'severe' mark, with more than 15 locations already in that category.

The 24-hour average AQI on Tuesday at 4 pm stood at 372, compared to 304 on Monday and 279 on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Out of 39 monitoring stations, 16 recorded AQI in the 'severe' category with readings above 400 — a level known to seriously impact health — according to CPCB's Sameer app.

Stations in the 'severe' range included Burari, Anand Vihar, Mundka, Bawana, Vivek Vihar, Rohini, Sonia Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Punjabi Bagh and others.

As per CPCB standards, an AQI between 0–50 is considered 'good', 51–100 'satisfactory', 101–200 'moderate', 201–300 'poor', 301–400 'very poor', and 401–500 'severe'.

According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the city's AQI is likely to remain in the 'very poor' category over the next few days. The forecast also predicts mist/haze during the night.

Surface winds are likely to blow from the southwest at calm to light speeds, gradually increasing to below 5 kmph in the afternoon. Wind speed is expected to rise to about 10 kmph from the north during the evening and night.

Meanwhile, the transport sector accounted for 18.4 per cent of Delhi’s pollution on Tuesday, the highest among local contributors, followed by peripheral industries at 9.2 per cent, and emissions from neighbouring cities: Noida (8.2 per cent), Ghaziabad (4.6 per cent), Baghpat (6.2 per cent), Panipat (3.3 per cent ) and Gurugram (2.9 per cent).

Transport emissions are forecast to contribute 15.6 per cent on Wednesday.

On the weather front, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 25.8 degrees Celsius, 0.5 degrees above normal, while the minimum settled at 9.6 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degree above normal, the IMD said.

For Wednesday, the department has forecast fog, with maximum and minimum temperatures expected to be around 24 and 8 degrees Celsius, respectively.