New Delhi, Oct 29 Despite cloudy skies and light rain in parts of the city, Delhi’s air quality remained in the poor category for the second consecutive day on Thursday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) settled at 222, down from 229 on Wednesday, and three monitoring stations recorded very poor air quality, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.
Of the city’s 58 monitoring stations, 35 recorded poor air quality, while three recorded very poor air quality. Uttam Nagar recorded the highest AQI at 331, followed by Mundka at 305 and Jahangirpuri at 301. The remaining stations recorded moderate air quality.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between 0 and 50 is classified as good, 51 and 100 as satisfactory, 101 and 200 as moderate, 201 and 300 as poor, 301 and 400 as very poor, and 401 and 500 as severe.
The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi forecasts that the city’s air quality will likely remain in the moderate category from Friday until October 31, before deteriorating to the poor category on November 1. The outlook for the subsequent six days also indicates poor air quality.
The early warning system reported that unfavourable conditions for pollutant dispersion include a ventilation index below 6,000 square metres per second and an average wind speed of less than 10 kilometres per hour.
The Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi said transport emissions contributed 16.8 per cent to the city’s pollution levels. Other contributions included peripheral industries at 4.2 per cent, residential sources at 4.6 per cent, construction at 2.3 per cent, waste burning at 1.6 per cent, road dust at 1.1 per cent and other sectors at 1.1 per cent.
Among the National Capital Region districts, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr and Gautam Buddh Nagar each contributed 9.4 per cent, followed by Muzaffarnagar at 2.4 per cent, Meerut at 1.9 per cent, Gurugram at 1.8 per cent, Panipat at 1.8 per cent, Jhajjar at 1.5 per cent, Faridabad at 3 per cent, Sonipat at 2.9 per cent and Baghpat at 3.8 per cent. Stubble burning contributed 0.9 per cent, while other sources accounted for 16 per cent.
Satellites detected 205 farm fires across six states on Wednesday, including 96 in Punjab, six in Haryana, 20 in Uttar Pradesh, 57 in Rajasthan, 10 in Uttarakhand and 16 in Madhya Pradesh. No residue-burning events were detected in Delhi.
Between September 15 and October 28, the system detected 2,472 farm-fire events across the six states. These included 813 in Punjab, 28 in Haryana, 344 in Uttar Pradesh, two in Delhi, 519 in Rajasthan, 169 in Uttarakhand and 526 in Madhya Pradesh.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast thunderstorms accompanied by rain in the city on Friday.
(PTI News)
