Delhi’s air quality deteriorates further, becomes ‘very poor’

Hours after slight improvement in the air quality of Delhi-NCR, the national capital again started inhaling toxins as the quality of air deteriorated from “poor” in the morning to “very poor” in the evening on Saturday.

The major pollutant, PM2.5, or particles with diameter less than 2.5 micro metre, was recorded above 300 units, reports IANS.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Saturday recorded the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi-NCR at 301 and Delhi recorded 308 at 7 p.m.

PM2.5 across Delhi and NCR was above 300 units throughout the day – at least 12 times beyond the safe limit.

On Saturday evening, Ghaziabad was most polluted in NCR with the city recording 370 units, Gurgaon recorded 325 units. While Noida recorded 363 units, Faridabad recorded 315 units.

Mahesh Palawat, Director of Skymet, a private weather forecast agency, said due to rain, dust particles had settled in the morning.

“However, by evening, there was a fall in temperature and the wind speed was low, hence the particles got condensed and there was a drop in the air quality.”

He added Delhi may again witness drizzling on Saturday tonight and the pollution level could go down.

According to SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research), an app instituted by the Ministry of Earth Science, Delhi’s air quality on Saturday evening was “very poor” and is expected to remain “very poor” for next three days.

Of 10 monitoring stations of SAFAR spread across Delhi-NCR, 7 recorded very poor air quality with Mathura road in south Delhi and IGI T-3 recording the worst PM2.5 concentration – at least 320 units.