After several days of falling under ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ categories, Delhi saw a small but significant improvement in air quality on Tuesday. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 292, with the city falling in the ‘poor’ category.
An AQI above 300 falls into the ‘very poor’ category. Seventeen of the capital’s 39 monitoring stations still recorded AQI levels above 300, though most showed improvement compared with last week. Anand Vihar remained in the ‘very poor’ bracket at 319, while Bawana recorded the highest AQI in Delhi at 342. IGI Airport, meanwhile, saw the lowest reading of the day at 215.
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AQI still in 'very poor' range on Monday
The 24-hour average AQI on Monday was 314 at 4 pm. Morning readings recorded an AQI of 318, slightly lower than Sunday's 308 but still firmly in the 'very poor' range. According to CPCB's Sameer app, 27 stations recorded 'very poor' air quality and 11 recorded 'poor' air quality on Monday morning, though the figures were not updated in the evening.
Pollution could intensify with winter's progress
Despite this marginal improvement, the pollution levels are still high. Readings available till 6 pm showed 27 monitoring stations under the ‘very poor’ category and 11 in the ‘poor’ range.
The Decision Support System (DSS) for Delhi identified the key contributors to the city's pollution load as:
Transport: 17.7%
Delhi and peripheral industries: 8.5%
Construction dust: 2.4%
Residential emissions: 4.3%
Waste burning: 1.6%
Neighbouring NCR districts added to the overall haze with Jhajjar contributing 11.5%, followed by Sonipat (8%), Rohtak (5.1%), Jind (3.4%) and Gurgaon (1%).
Forecasts indicate that pollution could slip further into the ‘very poor to severe’ range as winter conditions intensify.
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Chilly mornings, clearer skies
While the air remained heavy, Delhi woke up to crisper weather. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded a maximum temperature of 26.3°C-1.5°C below normal, and a minimum of 8.7°C, which is 0.9°C below normal. The humidity oscillated between 84% in the morning 52% by the evening. For Tuesday, the IMD has forecast a partly cloudy sky with winds blowing at 15-25 kmph and the temperature likely to oscillate between 9°C and 24°C.
