According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) daily bulletin released at 4 pm on Thursday, the AQI was recorded at 396 in the city.
According to the CPCB, primary pollutants making the city air unhealthy remained at PM 2.5 micro particles.
The worst air quality across the national capital was recorded in the Wazirpur area at 456, followed by Mundka – 455, Punjabi Bagh – 446 and Jahangirpuri – 444.
The bulletin released by the CPCB was based on observations from 38 out of the 40 air monitoring stations across the city.
Air quality in cities adjoining Delhi like Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida and Faridabad also remained under the ‘very poor’ category.
The Indian Meteorological Department forecast for Delhi on Thursday reported ‘generally cloudy sky with light rain/thundershowers’, thus making it reasonable to infer that there could be a scope of slight improvement in the air situation.
Rai, however, advised all the departments in Delhi to strictly adhere to the anti-pollution measures under the Graded Response Action (GRAP) Plan I and II to pre-empt any possibility of further deterioration in the air quality, especially in wake of the revocation of GRAP III measures.
The minister had earlier said that biomass burning and vehicular emissions were major contributors to the city’s worsening air quality. He had said Delhi bears the brunt of biomass burning which mostly happens in its surrounding areas.
The Delhi government has also urged people to report open burning of waste/garbage on Green Delhi App, Rai said and added that 611 teams have been deployed to keep vigil on places where such burnings take place.
The special monitoring teams deployed at 13 air pollution hotspots are already at work while anti-dusting campaigns are underway.