New Delhi, October 24
Delhi’s air quality turned “very poor” on Monday morning as unfavourable meteorological conditions allowed accumulation of pollutants, and emissions from firecrackers and stubble burning compounded the situation.
On Sunday evening, the city reported a 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of 259, which was lowest for the day before Diwali in seven years.
However, pollution levels crept up at night amid a drop in temperature and wind speed as people burst firecrackers in several parts of the national capital and the number of farm fires rose to 1,318, the highest this season so far.
Delhi’s AQI stood at 301 at 8 am on Monday.
Twenty of the 35 monitoring stations in the city recorded the air quality in the “very poor” category, while the Anand Vihar station reported “severe” pollution levels (AQI 401).
The Delhi administration had on Saturday issued an order banning private construction in Anand Vihar and neighbouring areas considering the spike in air pollution levels there.
The neighbouring cities of Ghaziabad (302), Noida (302), Greater Noida (285), Gurugram (271) and Faridabad (256) reported poor to very poor air quality.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.
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