Delhi AQI reaches 300
The increase in hazardous air quality in Delhi-NCR continued even today. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)- India, Delhi’s air quality fell into the ‘very poor’ category on Sunday and the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 309. The air quality in Noida is also in ‘very poor’ category with 372 AQI. Whereas the air quality in Gurugram is in ‘poor’ category with 221 AQI. Like every time, with the beginning of the paddy harvesting season in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, incidents of stubble burning have come to light at many places this year too.
Along with burning of stubble, pollution spread by vehicles is also considered responsible for making the air of Delhi-NCR poisonous. A day earlier on Saturday, Delhi’s AQI was 286 and the air quality was recorded in the ‘poor’ category. On Saturday, Noida’s AQI was 255 and the air quality was in the ‘poor’ category, while Gurugram’s air quality was slightly better and the air quality was in the ‘moderate’ category with an AQI of 200. It is noteworthy that according to the AQI scale, air quality between 0 and 50 is ‘good’, between 51 and 100 is ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 is ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 is ‘ very poor’, and between 401 and 450 is ‘severe’.
Delhi’s air quality has been continuously deteriorating for more than a week. Monitoring agencies have said that at present there is no possibility of any improvement in this situation soon. According to the Centre’s Delhi Air Quality Forecasting System, the city’s air quality is likely to remain between ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ during the next few days. Meanwhile, the Delhi State Government also started a campaign from Thursday to prevent vehicle pollution.
