Delhi air quality improves to ‘poor’ as cold wave grips national capital

Delhirsquos air quality showed a marginal improvement on Thursday morning with the Air Quality Index AQI recorded at 279 at 705 am placing it in the lsquopoorrsquo category according to data from the Central Pollution Control Boardrsquos CPCB Sameer app Despite the slight relief in pollution levels DelhiNCR continued to reel under severe cold wave conditions for the second consecutive day as dense fog and chilly winds led to a sharp drop in temperatures across the regionAir quality better than Wednesday but still a concernThis marked a slight improvement from Wednesday when the national capital recorded an AQI of 302 at the same time categorising the air quality as lsquovery poorrsquoSeveral hotspots remain in lsquovery poorrsquo categoryHowever air quality remained very poor in several parts of the city Nehru Nagar recorded the worst air quality in Delhi with an AQI of 344 followed by Anand Vihar at 337 and Jahangirpuri at 332 RK Puram also remained in the very poor category with an AQI of 326Central and residential areas log high pollution levelsVivek Vihar and Chandni Chowk each reported an AQI of 322 while the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range recorded 320 Sirifort stood at 319 and Okhla Phase2 recorded an AQI of 313 Dwarka Sector 8 and Wazirpur reported similar levels both logging an AQI of 311Multiple locations continue to struggle with very poor airPatparganj registered an AQI of 307 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium recorded 306 Pusa stood at 305 and Rohini at 301 with all these areas falling under the lsquovery poorrsquo categorySome relief as several areas move into lsquopoorrsquo rangeSeveral other locations recorded air quality in the lsquopoorrsquo range Sonia Vihar and IHBAS Dilshad Garden both logged an AQI of 298 followed by Mundka at 297 Ashok Vihar and Punjabi Bagh stood at 296 eachAQI improves further in select pockets of the cityNarela and Sri Aurobindo Marg recorded an AQI of 281 while the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium stood at 276 ITO recorded an AQI of 271 DTU 269 and Alipur 268Lowest AQI readings seen in southern and airport areasShadipur reported an AQI of 266 Najafgarh 255 and North Campus Delhi University 247 The AQI at Aya Nagar stood at 244 CRRI Mathura Road at 238 and IIT Delhi at 237Bawana only area with lsquomoderatersquo air qualityBurari Crossing recorded an AQI of 234 Lodhi Road 226 and Mandir Marg 208 the same as IGI Airport Terminal 3 NSIT Dwarka recorded an AQI of 207Bawana was the only area in the city to record lsquomoderatersquo air quality with an AQI of 174CPCB explains AQI categoriesAs per CPCB standards an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered lsquogoodrsquo 51 to 100 lsquosatisfactoryrsquo 101 to 200 lsquomoderatersquo 201 to 300 lsquopoorrsquo 301 to 400 lsquovery poorrsquo and 401 to 500 lsquoseverersquoCold wave dense fog continue to grip DelhiNCRMeanwhile DelhiNCR continued to experience intense cold wave conditions for the second straight day Dense fog and cold northwesterly winds contributed to the prevailing chill and reduced visibility in many areas The maximum temperature on Wednesday January 7 was recorded at 167 degrees Celsius marginally higher than the 157 degrees Celsius recorded on TuesdayIMD issues yellow alert fog to persistThe India Meteorological Department IMD has predicted a steep rise in the maximum temperature on Thursday with no significant change expected in the coming days across the national capital region The Meteorological Department has also forecast moderate to dense fog in Delhi and upperlevel fog across the IndoGangetic Plain on Thursday January 8Cold conditions likely till midJanuaryCold conditions are expected to intensify over northern India until January 15 A yellow alert has been issued predicting moderate fog at many places and dense fog at isolated locations during the morning hours Thereafter a partly cloudy sky with shallow to moderate fog has been forecast until January 13With inputs from Agencies