Delhi’s Air Quality Improves From “Very Poor” To “Poor”

In a relative relief the air pollution levels in Delhi came down to the ‘poor’ category from ‘very poor’, as the national capital recorded an AQI of 221 on Tuesday morning, as per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research SAFAR.

The National Capital Region (NCR) also witnessed some improvement in air quality as Gurugram fell in the ‘Moderate’ category with an AQI of 162 and Delhi Airport (T3) recorded ‘poor’ quality air with an AQI of 218. However, Noida continued to breathe in ‘very poor’ quality air as the AQI of the city stood at 302.

Speaking of other places, Dhirpur recorded an AQI of 303, Lodhi Road recorded 152 in the ‘Moderate’ category while Mathura road recorded an AQI of 232, and Pusa recorded an AQI of 186.

The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.

In view of the improvement in the overall air quality of the Delhi-NCR seen in the past few days with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 294 in the 4 pm AQI bulletin provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the sub-committee for invoking actions under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) held a review meeting on Monday.

It reviewed the situation and took an appropriate call on the actions under Stage III of GRAP which was in place in the entire National Capital Region from October 29.

While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters of Delhi-NCR, the Commission noted that due to forecasts not indicating any steep degradation in the overall air quality of Delhi-NCR in the next few days with AQI likely to stay in the ‘Poor’ category, it is advisable to relax the restrictions and further roll back Stage III of the GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR.

However, actions under Stages I to Stage II of the GRAP shall, however, remain invoked and be “implemented, monitored and reviewed by all agencies concerned in the entire NCR to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further to the ‘severe’ category”.