Delhi’s air quality continues to be ‘very poor’; AQI at 349

Delhi AQI news: The national capital's air quality continued to be in the 'very poor' category on Friday, December 8, while the mercury recorded a high of 11.4 degrees Celsius, at 7:01 am, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) website.

Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 349 on December 7 at 7:01 am, as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'. An AQI above 500 falls in the 'severe plus' category.

Various locations across Delhi registered air quality in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ category while no location registered the ‘severe’ category today. As per SAFAR, The air quality was registered at Delhi University where AQI stood at 322, 321 at Noida, 353 at Dhirpur, 306 at Delhi airport (T3).

As per CPCB data at 8 am, Alipur witnessed ‘very poor’ air with AQI at 393, Anand Vihar recorded 374 AQI, 350 at Dwarka Sector 8, 364 at ITO, 396 at Jahangirpuri, 333 at RK Puram, 282 at Rohini and 388 at Wazirpur.

Some areas like Ayanagar and Mathura road witnessed moderate category air with AQI 145, 139 respectively.

On Thursday, the minimum temperature settled at 9.2 degrees Celsius, according to the weather department.

Delhi's AQI improved from 'very poor' on Tuesday to 'poor' on Wednesday.

No rain is forecast in the National Capital until December 11, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Delhi has been experiencing air quality in the range of 'severe' to 'very poor' over the last few weeks.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said last week that Grap-3 has been lifted in the national capital but the government is trying to ensure that Grap-1 and 2 are strictly implemented.

"Due to the change in weather during the last two days, there has been a decline in pollution. The Commission for Air Quality Management has lifted the restrictions of Grap-3. The ban on BS-3 petrol and BS-4 diesel vehicles and the ban on construction demolition have been lifted," Gopal Rai said.

"GRAP 3 is imposed when AQI is 400, but it continued despite low AQI because fluctuations were visible in AQI after Diwali. If the wind speed slows down, AQI may increase again, hence GRAP-1 and GRAP-2 should be strictly implemented. For this, directions are being given to all the departments again," he added.

(With Inputs from agencies)