In Delhi, air quality likely to enter ‘Severe Zone’ by Friday

The Air quality in the national capital is predicted to enter severe zone the next two days because of increased incidents of farm fires.

The air quality on Thursday morning was recorded to be in the ‘Poor category’ at Lodhi Road while around Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the AQI was in the ‘Very Poor’ category.

“Air quality index (AQI) data as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) this morning, major pollutant PM 2.5 at 297 (‘Poor’ category) at Lodhi Road and at 346 (‘Very Poor’ category) in the area around Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,” according to the sources.

Even as the air saw some improvement this week in comparison to the last, the AQI on Wednesday slipped to the ‘Very Poor’ category on Wednesday.

SAFAR, the government’s air quality monitoring and forecasting service has predicted that the air quality may enter the severe category in some parts of Delhi by Friday.

The main cause of the deterioration in the air quality is being said to occur because of two factors,calm surface winds in Delhi are likely to prevent dispersion of pollutants and the fire count has increased significantly (around 1,000) as compared to last week.

AQI between 201 and 300 is considered “poor”, 301-400 “very poor” and 401-500 “severe”.

Further, weather experts are of the opinion that a fresh western disturbance is expected to increase the wind speed and improve ventilation which will help bring down pollution levels.