The air quality in Delhi-NCR is continuously deteriorating. The air quality index (AQI) of the national capital has again fallen into the “severe” category today. According to SAFAR data, Delhi’s AQI was recorded at 432 at 6 am, which is a severe level. At 4 pm on Wednesday it was at 418.
According to the data of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), AQI remains at critical level in many areas of Delhi, due to which people are not getting relief. Most areas of NCR are still wrapped in smog, and AQI has crossed 400 at many places. The Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for today, which indicates that there will be no relief from pollution at the moment. However, slight improvement is expected due to increase in wind speed from Friday.
critical areas
Areas where AQI was recorded above 450 at 6 am include Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, Najafgarh, Lajpat Nagar, Patparganj, Punjabi Bagh, RK Puram, Rohini, Vivek Vihar and Wazirpur. . Anand Vihar’s AQI was recorded at 473, Patparganj’s 472, Ashok Vihar’s 471 and Jahangirpuri’s 470.
This morning, AQI of Jahangirpuri was 606, Punjabi Bagh was 473, India Gate was 378 and Saraswati College was 438. On Wednesday, AQI was recorded above 400 in 35 out of 36 centres, out of which AQI of 25 centers was more than 450.
Increasing contribution of vehicles
According to the Centre’s decision support system, the biggest cause of pollution in Delhi was vehicular smoke, which accounts for 13.3% of the total pollution.
The effect of smog is expected to remain in Delhi even today. Wind speed is expected to increase from Friday, which may provide some relief. By the end of this week, the minimum temperature may fall below 15 degrees Celsius and the maximum may fall below 30 degrees Celsius.
Classification of AQI
AQI levels are divided into different categories: 0-50 (good), 51-100 (satisfactory), 101-200 (moderate), 201-300 (poor), 301-400 (very poor), 401 -450 (severe) and above 450 (severe plus) are considered.