Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to the “very poor” category for the first time this season on Monday, with a thick haze enveloping the national capital as pollution levels rose sharply after last week’s brief respite brought by rain .
The rise in pollution levels comes a week ahead of Diwali, when firecracker bursting typically adds to the pollutant load in the Capital’s air. Meteorologist Navdeep Dahiya warned that the smog season had begun, with unfavourable weather conditions likely to worsen pollution levels in the coming days. The air quality index (AQI) stood at 307 at 7.05 am on Monday. The city had recorded a 24-hour average AQI of 261 (poor) on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) 4 pm bulletin, marking a sharp deterioration from 117 (moderate) a day earlier. On Friday, the AQI was 60, after of heavy rain washed the pollution out of Delhi ’s air and gave the cleanest October day in four years. Of Delhi’s 59 air quality monitoring stations, data was available for 58. Meanwhile, satellite data from NASA detected 1,394 farm fires in Punjab and Haryana between October 1 and November 1, 1,249 in Punjab and 145 in Haryana. Of these, 171 were recorded on November 1. During the same period last year, the satellite detected 1,861 fires.
Of these, 36 recorded “very poor” air quality, while Jahangirpuri was the only station in the “severe” category, with an AQI of 417. Five stations recorded “moderate” air quality, while the remaining stations were in the “poor” category.
