Just ahead of Diwali, the air quality in Delhi deteriorated as it entered the “very poor” category for the first time this season. The overall air quality index (AQI) of the city was 303 on Tuesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
Delhi’s neighbouring cities — Faridabad (306), Ghaziabad (334) and Noida (303) — also recorded very poor air quality. Before this, the highest AQI of the season recorded in Delhi was 298 in the “poor” category on October 17.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
Air quality forecast agency SAFAR said stubble burning accounted for 6 per cent of the PM2.5 pollution in Delhi on Tuesday. The rest of the pollution was due to local sources, PTI reported.
While the contribution of farm fires in Delhi’s air pollution has remained low this season so far due to heavy rainfall in October, the scenario is likely to change post Diwali.
SAFAR has predicted that Delhi’s air quality may slip to the “severe” category on Diwali night and the share of stubble burning in its PM2.5 pollution may go up to 40 per cent the day after, PTI reported.