Delhi’s air quality remained ‘poor’ on Saturday as the national capital recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 233 at 7 am, while a thick layer of smog covered the city, according to data from the Sameer app developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The capital city recorded an AQI of 268 on Friday, categorised as ‘poor’, which was a slight improvement compared to the last few days when the air quality had fallen to the ‘very poor’ category, including on Thursday when an AQI of 373 was recorded.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51–100 ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 ‘moderate’, 201–300 ‘poor’, 301–400 ‘very poor’, and 401–500 ‘severe’.
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Delhi AQI today
As per the latest update on the Sameer app, Delhi’s AQI was in the ‘poor’ category on Saturday. Several monitoring stations recorded an AQI below 300, including Anand Vihar, Burari Crossing, Chandni Chowk, Jahangirpuri, Patparganj, RK Puram, Rohini, Vivek Vihar and others.
Meanwhile, Wazirpur was the only monitoring station that recorded an AQI above 300, standing at 323 and falling in the ‘very poor’ air quality category.
Other stations recorded ‘moderate’ air quality on Saturday. These include Aya Nagar, DTU, IGI Airport (T3), Lodhi Road, Mandir Marg, Pusa, Sri Aurobindo Marg and others.
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Delhi’s pollution crisis
Since Diwali, the AQI in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) has remained in the ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ categories across several areas, even as Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) remains in force.
On Wednesday, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) announced that parking fees across the city would be doubled after GRAP Stage 2 was implemented due to worsening air quality.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has also banned the entry of all non-Delhi-registered BS-III and lower-standard commercial goods vehicles into the city starting Saturday.
Delhi has also put its cloud seeding trials on hold due to “insufficient moisture in the clouds”. Notably, the cloud seeding attempts carried out on Tuesday did not produce the expected results in the national capital.