Delhi’s average air quality continued to be in ‘very poor’ zone as the national capital recorded an AQI of 324 on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The air quality is expected to improve on Saturday with an increase in the speed of wind as the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) forecast earlier.

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According to the air quality monitoring agency, the predominant surface wind is likely to come from northwest direction on a speed of 12-15 kmph.

The agency forecast clear sky and shallow fog on Saturday morning. It said that the Ventilation Index (VI) could improve in the coming days making things better for the residents of Delhi.

Delhi is likely to witness the VI of about 6,500 m2/s on Saturday and 7500 m2/s on Sunday, the IITM said.

According to the IITM, ventilation index lower than 6000 m2/s with average wind speed less than 10 kmph is unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants.

Meanwhile, the primary pollutants in the city’s air on Friday were the PM 2.5 micro particles, the CPCB said.

Jahangirpuri recorded the worst AQI level of 373, followed by Bawana and Narela- 372, Alipur- 370, Vivek Vihar- 363, Mundka and Wazirpur at 362.

For now, there is no place in Delhi where the AQI has slipped into ‘severe’ zone, the CPCB daily bulletin said. Anti-pollution measures like spraying of water along roads, deployment of special teams at the 13 hotspots, deployment of smog- guns and other actions are underway in the city in accordance with the Commission for Air Quality Management’s(CAQM) Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stages-I and II that are invoked across the Delhi-NCR region.

The national capital region (NCR) cities sharing their borders with Delhi, including Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Noida and Sonipat, too are reeling under ‘poor’ air quality, the CPCB said.