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.