Air quality worsens in Delhi, 5 areas in ‘very poor’ range

Delhi’s air got worse on Wednesday with six monitoring stations in the city clocking an Air Quality Index (AQI) above 300, which is “very poor”.

The monitoring stations at Anand Vihar, DTU, Delhi University North Campus, Punjabi Bagh, Shadipur and NSIT Dwarka all had an AQI of more than 300 on Wednesday.

Anand Vihar, arguably the most polluted spot in the city, topped the list with 379. Most other stations had “poor” air quality, which is AQI between 200 and 300.

“Over the past four-five days, levels of particulate matter – PM10 and PM2.5 – have shot up drastically. The air quality is likely to deteriorate further in the next two-three days and this is primarily because of meteorological conditions,” Dipankar Saha, who heads the air quality laboratory of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), said.

Saha said because of a depression in the South and South-east of the country, wind speed has decreased substantially in and around Delhi.

The main factors that influence Delhi’s air quality are wind speed and direction.