After four days 'severe' air quality, AQI hits 'poor' category in Delhi

After four consecutive days of ‘severe’ air quality, Delhiites got some respite from pollution on Sunday (November 17) as the air quality in the city improved to ‘poor’ category due to strong winds that blew in the region.

The national capital witnessed a dip in pollution levels on Saturday morning even as the air quality in the city remained in the “severe” category.

Delhi: Major pollutants PM 2.5 at 218 & PM 10 at 217, both in 'poor' category in Lodhi Road area, according to the Air Quality Index (AQI) data. pic.twitter.com/8QWrCXrOm0

— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2019

The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi at 9 am on Sunday stood at 254 against an AQI of 412 at the same time on Saturday. The AQI in Faridabad was 228, Ghaziabad 241, Greater Noida 192, Noida 224 and Gurgaon 193.

Earlier, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that the air quality has improved after the neighbouring states stopped stubble burning. “A very strong correlation can be seen between stubble burning and the spike in air pollution in North India. As soon as stubble burning began in the first week of Oct, the AQI started rising. Now that burning is coming to an end, air quality is also improving,” he tweeted.

फसलें जलनी बंद हो गयी। और इसके साथ ही दिल्ली की हवा भी साफ़ हो गयी। कुछ लोग कह रहे थे दिल्ली की हवा में केवल 5% फसलों का प्रदूषण है। तो क्या केवल 5% प्रदूषण कम होने से AQI 500 से ज़्यादा से 200 से कम हो गया? प्रदूषण पर राजनीति नहीं, साफ़ नीयत से सबको मिलकर काम करने की ज़रूरत है https://t.co/qDbEuHuntF

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 17, 2019

An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 severe. The national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius while humidity was 71 per cent.

The weatherman has forecast mainly clear skies for the day with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 28 degrees Celsius. Delhi was blanketed with a thick smog for four consecutive days till Friday as unfavourable weather hampered dispersion of pollutants. On Saturday, the air quality index stood at 357 at 4 pm.

(With inputs from agencies)