Delhi gasps for fresh air as AQI dips to 'severe category'

Air quality in Delhi is in the 'severe category' with the AQI reading 499 thereby leaving Delhiites gasping for fresh air on Saturday morning.

New Delhi: The air quality in the national capital plunged to the 'severe category' leaving Delhiites gasping for fresh air on Saturday morning. According to SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research), the air quality index in the city is at 499, which is in the 'severe category.'

In Delhi's Lodhi Road area, the AQI was recorded at 476, at IIT Delhi area AQI was at 479 and in the Delhi university's north campus area AQI was at 578 today.

According to the government agencies, AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 are marked as severe/hazardous.

"It is getting difficult day by day to do morning walks in the city. The Central Pollution Control Board should look into this matter. The AQI today is in a severe category and is likely to be the same tomorrow due to an increase in stubble related fire counts and an increase in transport level (925 mb) wind speed during the night. The effective fire count increased to 4056 today. Today's share of crop residue burning is about 35 per cent in PM2.5," SAFAR stated.

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"A drop in the minimum temperature is likely for the next two days resulting in air quality to be in severe to the upper end of the very poor category. However, an increase in local surface wind speed helps disperse pollutants," the bulletin added.

Meanwhile, the daily temperature in the national capital is at 12.6 degrees Celcius, the India Meteorological Department said.

According to experts, fine particles present in the air (matter less than 10 PM), ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitric dioxide, carbon monoxide and dioxide all cause inflammation in the respiratory tract, allergies and damage to the lungs.

When the Air Quality Index is 0-50, it is considered in the 'good' category. 51-100 as 'satisfactory', 101-200 as 'moderate', 201-300 as 'poor', 301-400 as 'very poor', 400-500 as 'severe' and above 500 as 'very poor' is considered 'serious'.

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