Delhi’s air quality hovers close to ‘severe’ mark; 18 stations log above-400 AQI

Delhi’s air quality hovered close to the ‘severe’ category on Thursday as the average AQI was recorded at 391, with more than 15 monitoring stations logging readings above the 400-mark, according to the CPCB.

The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) settled at 391 -- in the ‘very poor’ category for the seventh consecutive day.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the average AQI stood at 392 on Wednesday, 374 on Tuesday and 351 on Monday.

Delhi’s air quality is likely to deteriorate further, slipping into the ‘severe’ category in the coming days, and will remain in the ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ range for the next six days, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ Air Quality Early Warning System.

The CPCB’s Sameer app—which displays AQI readings from all monitoring stations across Delhi—showed that out of 38 operational stations, 18 logged AQIs in the ‘severe’ category. These include Chandni Chowk, DTU, Bawana, Anand Vihar, Mundka, Narela and Wazirpur stations where above-400 AQI levels were recorded.

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

Meanwhile, the Decision Support System of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, estimated that vehicular emissions contributed 17.3 per cent to Delhi’s pollution on Thursday, while stubble burning accounted for 2.8 per cent.

For Friday, these parameters are projected to comprise 16.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent of the capital’s pollutants, respectively.

Satellite imagery detected 16 farm fires in Punjab, 11 in Haryana and 115 in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature was recorded at 11.4 degrees Celsius, 0.9 degrees below normal, while the maximum settled at 28.2 degree celsius, 0.4 degrees above normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

For Friday, the IMD has forecast moderate fog, with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to hover around 27 and 12 degrees Celsius, respectively.