After improvement over week, Delhi air quality again dips to ‘poor’

Supreme Court of India is barely visible due to the dense smog (Photo: ANI File)


Air quality in Delhi-NCR again dipped into the ‘poor’ category on Thursday morning with an overall AQI at 249, as per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The air quality in the capital, which was witnessing improvement over the last few days, deteriorated from the ‘moderate’ category a day ago.

New Delhi’s air quality, which had improved on Wednesday to the “moderate” category. However, this morning the national capital was shrouded in a layer of smog.

Meanwhile, the adjoining cities also witnessed a similar fate. The AQI was 235 at Gurugram, 300 at Noida and 266 at IIT Delhi, all in the poor category.

According to the SAFAR, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi stood at 176 this morning.

The air pollution levels in Delhi came down to the ‘poor’ category from ‘very poor’ on Tuesday as the national capital recorded an AQI of 221.

Air Quality Index is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour.

The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.