NEW DELHI: Delhiites continued to breathe extremely poisonous air on Tuesday as the city’s AQI remained in the ‘severe-plus’ category for the second day running.
Almost all areas in the capital remained well within ‘severe’ levels through the day and experts said there was little hope of a marked improvement in air quality over the next few days.
Read more: Delhi Air Pollution Live Updates: Deadly & toxic air turns city into gas chamber
Delhi’s average AQI on Tuesday was 460 on a scale of 0 to 500, just a shade better than the previous day’s reading of 494, which was the city’s second-worst air day on record. The thick shroud of smog seen over the city on Monday eased due to the dense fog layer moving east towards west UP, but a toxic haze persisted at most places.
The capital’s air remained the dirtiest in NCR as neighbouring cities were slightly better. Greater Noida had an AQI of 372 (very poor), Noida 370 (very poor), Gurgaon 402 (severe), Faridabad 320 (very poor) and Ghaziabad 434 (severe). The air quality early warning system expects AQI to remain severe for the next few days.
Immediate relief unlikely, GRAP-IV to stay in force at least till Monday
Delhi’s average AQI was 484 at 9am on Tuesday, which by noon had improved to 473 and to 464 by 3pm.
According to weather analysts, Delhi had seen dense fog on Monday, leading to intensive trapping of pollutants as the fog cover persisted for a longer time.
Al though the fog moved towards to west UP, pollution levels may see no significant change due to low wind speed and high moisture in the air. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Safdarjung saw a minimum visibility of 600m while Palam saw 1000m on Tuesday.
“City saw north-westerly and westerly winds up to 6-8kmph on Tuesday. On Monday, the dense fog layer entered the city from Punjab and Haryana, which made dispersion difficult. The fog has shifted though the city still saw shallow fog and mist, so there is no significant improvement in AQI for now. The weather conditions will be the same for the next few days, so no significant improvement in the air quality is expected,” said Mahesh Palwat, Vice Chairman, Climate Change and Meteorology, Skymet.
“The air quality is likely to be in the severe category from November 20 to 22. In the subsequent six days, air quality is likely to be in the severe to very poor category,” stated IITM’s bulletin.
PM2.5 levels in the city on Tuesday till 7 pm oscillated between 287.2 to 422.2 micrograms per cubic metre, against a 24-hour national standard of 60 micrograms per cubic metre, and 15 units for WHO standards.
PM10 levels hovered between 416.8 to 578.6 micrograms per cubic metre, against a national standard of 100 units and 45 units as per WHO standards.
Meanwhile, Grap 4 measures continue to be in force since Monday, with a ban on construction activities barring essential projects. The entry of trucks also continues to be banned, except for those carrying essential items.
