Air quality slips back to ‘poor’ category in city

New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality slipped back to ‘poor’ category, a day after improving sligh-tly, due to change in the direction of wind, which is now flowing from stubble burning areas in Punjab and Haryana.  

On Monday, the AQI was recorded at 246, which falls under the ‘poor’ category. An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, and 401-500 severe.

The air quality had improved to ‘moderate’ level on Sunday with an index of 181 but slipped back to ‘poor’ category with the air quality index (AQI) at 235 according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), which comes under the ministry of earth sciences. An official at the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) attributed the reason behind the slight improvement on Sunday to less traffic and improvement in wind speed. However, as the traffic increased on Monday, the pollution in the city again rose and the air quality fell.

The PM10 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 10 mm) was at 230 in Delhi and the PM2.5 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 2.5 mm) in the city was 101 according to the data by SAFAR.

SAFAR has also forecast further deterioration of air quality in the next two days with PM10 expected to touch 264 and PM2.5 to reach 111 in the next three days.

Moreover, despite good rains, the city did not have a single ‘good’ air quality day during the monsoon season (June-September), according to CPCB data.