Delhi air pollution at month’s lowest level

NEW DELHI: Air pollution in Delhi fell to the lowest level in a month on Monday, with the city enjoying cleaner air than Mumbai, but the situation is likely to deteriorate to ‘severe’ levels in two days as the wind slows down, weather scientists said.

The air quality index of Delhi at 202 stood in 'poor' category at 8 AM on Tuesday.

The level of PM 10 particles in the city in the early hours of Monday fell to 160, the lowest since October 18, while the level of the finer PM 2.5 particles fell to 87, about the same level four weeks ago, data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed (CPCB).

But pollution levels in the capital region are expected to rise rapidly. “The AQI is forecast to slightly deteriorate to the lower end of the very poor category by tomorrow (Tuesday), and the probability of AQI touching the lower end of severe category from Thursday this week is high,” System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) said on Monday.


The hazardous ultrafine particulate matter — PM 2.5 — is forecast to go up to 134 on Wednesday.

Parts of Delhi, like Lodhi road saw average AQI touching 134 and Anand Vihar touching 233, while Chandini Chowk saw PM 2.5 levels touching 300 plus in the early hours of Monday, said CPCB.

Kolkata with an AQI of 160, and Mumbai with 157, were among the top five most polluted cities, as per data sourced from global air quality monitoring station AirVisual. Apart from the intensity of surface and boundary level winds, other factors such as the stubble transport level wind’s direction and an increase in stubble fire counts will force the air quality to worsen to severe levels this week, said a report by Safar.