Delhi once again faces “severe” air quality as temperatures drop, and slow wind speed during the night leads to the accumulation of pollutants. At 8 am on Friday, the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 401. This follows a gradual increase in AQI levels, recording 390 on Thursday (24-hour average at 4 pm), 394 on Wednesday, 365 on Tuesday, 348 on Monday, and 301 on Sunday. The rise in pollution levels comes after the removal of stringent curbs by the Centre, including a ban on construction work for linear projects and the entry of polluting trucks in Delhi, following improved conditions due to favorable wind speed and direction.
Neighboring areas, including Ghaziabad (386), Gurugram (321), Greater Noida (345), Noida (344), and Faridabad (410), also reported “very poor” to “severe” air quality. The Air Quality Index categorizes levels from “good” to “severe-plus,” with the current reading falling into the “severe” range. Predictions from the air quality early warning system suggest that pollution levels are likely to fluctuate between “very poor” and “severe” over the next five to six days. Additionally, data from a joint project by the Delhi government and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, indicated that vehicular emissions accounted for approximately 38% of the capital’s air pollution on Thursday.
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