New Delhi, Oct 28 Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to the poor category on Wednesday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) settling at 229, while the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow alert for moderate rain on Thursday.
The weather department has forecast a generally cloudy sky with moderate rain on Thursday, with the minimum and maximum temperatures likely to settle at 17 degrees Celsius and 27 degrees Celsius, respectively. For Friday, it has forecast thunderstorms with rain.
According to the IMD, the maximum temperature at Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, settled at 31.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, 0.8 degrees above normal, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 15.7 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees below normal.
At Palam, the maximum temperature settled at 28.6 degrees Celsius, 3 degrees below normal, while the minimum was 15.5 degrees Celsius, 1.5 degrees below normal.
Lodhi Road recorded a maximum temperature of 31 degrees Celsius, at the normal level, and a minimum of 16.2 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees above normal.
The Ridge recorded a maximum temperature of 31.6 degrees Celsius, 0.7 degrees above normal, while the minimum was 16.5 degrees Celsius, 0.8 degrees below normal.
Ayanagar recorded a maximum temperature of 30.9 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees below normal, and a minimum of 14.8 degrees Celsius, 1.5 degrees below normal.
No rainfall was recorded at any of the five weather stations between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Wednesday, according to the IMD.
The city’s AQI stood at 229 on Wednesday, up from 197 on Tuesday, ending a four-day streak of moderate air quality, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Of the 58 monitoring stations in the city, Vivek Vihar recorded the worst air quality, with an AQI of 316 in the very poor category. Sixteen stations recorded moderate air quality, while the remaining 41 were in the poor category.
Earlier this month, Delhi recorded poor air quality on October 21, when the AQI stood at 245, followed by 223 on October 22 and 230 on October 23. The air quality subsequently remained in the moderate category for four consecutive days before deteriorating again on Wednesday.
The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi has forecast that air quality is likely to remain in the moderate category from October 29 to October 31. However, the outlook for the subsequent six days suggests it could range between moderate and poor.
The system said a ventilation index below 6,000 square metres per second, coupled with an average wind speed of less than 10 kilometres per hour, is unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
According to the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi, the transport sector contributed 19.3 per cent of the city’s pollution on Wednesday. Delhi’s energy sector contributed 5 per cent, industries in Delhi and peripheral areas 4.8 per cent, residential sources 5.1 per cent, construction 2.5 per cent, waste burning 1.8 per cent, road dust 1.3 per cent and other sectors 1.3 per cent.
Among NCR districts, Ghaziabad contributed 11.8 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 8.7 per cent, Meerut 8.6 per cent, Muzaffarnagar 5.7 per cent, Baghpat 4.2 per cent, Bulandshahr 3.9 per cent, Faridabad 3.06 per cent, Gurugram 2.1 per cent, Sonipat 1.5 per cent and Jhajjar 0.5 per cent. Stubble burning contributed 0.9 per cent, while other sources accounted for up to 9.6 per cent.
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) said in its daily report that satellites detected 129 farm fire incidents across six states on October 27. Of these, 33 incidents were detected in Punjab, one in Haryana, 18 in Uttar Pradesh, 46 in Rajasthan, seven in Uttarakhand and 24 in Madhya Pradesh.
Between September 15 and October 27, satellites detected a total of 2,267 residue-burning events across the six states. These included 717 in Punjab, 22 in Haryana, 324 in Uttar Pradesh, 533 in Rajasthan, 159 in Uttarakhand and 510 in Madhya Pradesh. Delhi recorded two incidents during the period.
(PTI News)
