Delhi air quality remains ‘very poor’ for third consecutive day

Delhi's air quality remained in the ‘very poor' category for a third straight day on Wednesday, deteriorating slightly as wind speeds dropped again.

The city's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 353 at 4 pm on Wednesday, according to the daily national bulletin released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

This marks the highest AQI recorded so far this season, up from 351 on Tuesday and 345 on Monday.

A visible haze shrouded the city during the day, with winds failing to exceed 7 kmph. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that suitable dispersion of pollutants is unlikely in the coming days.

“The wind direction has shifted from easterly to westerly, but speeds remain low. Nighttime winds are almost calm, and during the day they reach only 5-7 kmph,” said Krishna Mishra, senior scientist at IMD. He added that a weak western disturbance is expected around October 27, but it is unlikely to bring significant rain or an increase in wind speeds.

Wind speeds briefly increased on Tuesday, helping clear the emissions from Diwali firecrackers.

However, they began to drop again from Tuesday night as temperatures fell.

Forecasts from the Centre's Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) indicate that Delhi's AQI will likely remain in the ‘very poor' category till Saturday, after which it may fluctuate between ‘poor' and ‘very poor' for the next six days.

CPCB data showed that out of 39 active monitoring stations, three recorded ‘severe' pollution levels at 4 pm on Wednesday, while 33 remained in the ‘very poor' category.

The worst-affected areas were Nehru Nagar (AQI 411), which recorded a staggering PM2.5 reading of 1763µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre) on Diwali, Punjabi Bagh (406) and Wazirpur (406).

Only three stations — Lodhi Road (230), DTU (216), and IGI Airport (294) — recorded AQI below 300.