Little respite to Delhiites as overall air quality remains in 'very poor' category, AQI at 360

New Delhi: In little respite to the Delhiites, the air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the "very poor" category on Thursday. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), Delhi's overall AQI was recorded at 360 this morning. 

Smoky haze lingers as Delhi's overall air quality remains in the 'very poor' category with Air Quality Index (AQI) at 360 pic.twitter.com/e9llPO0rcZ — ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2021

The agency, which works under the Ministry of Science, also warned that air quality in the national capital and its neighbouring cities may worsen in the next two days.

According to SAFAR, the AQI is predicted to remain in the ‘very poor’ category at 345. Among the top five air pollution hotspots are areas around Narela, Rohini and Delhi University.

Smoke and haze continued to cover the national capital with the air quality remaining in the 'very poor' category. 

Delhi | Smoke and haze continue to cover the national capital with air quality in the 'very poor' category pic.twitter.com/LcCdE0VWvx — ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2021

Delhi's air quality index (AQI) remained in the 'very poor' category on Wednesday too. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the national capital's overall AQI was at 382 around 6:45 AM. 

However, in some areas, the air quality continued to remain in the 'severe' category. While Delhi University's North Campus area recorded an AQI of 441, the Mathura road reported an AQI of 422. Pusa road reported an AQI of 379, IIT Delhi of 367 and Lodhi road of 367. 

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

This is to be noted that Delhi had been continuously recording 'severe' air quality due to the accumulation of emissions from fireworks on Diwali and crop residue burning amid unfavourable meteorological conditions -- low temperature, wind speed and mixing height.

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI on November 9 stood at 404 at 4 pm, up from 390 on November 8, when even neighbouring Noida’s overall AQI was an alarming 575.

Last year, the share of crop residue burning in Delhi's pollution had peaked at 42 per cent on November 5. In 2019, crop residue burning accounted for 44 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution on November 1.