Air quality in the national capital remained in the “poor” category on Wednesday as well with smog covering skies. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 235 as per the data shared by Central Pollution Control Board till 7 am on Wednesday.
The air quality in the National Capital Region also remained between ‘moderate’ and ‘poor’ categories with AQIs at 158 in Gurugram, 248 in Greater Noida, 170 in Noida, and 179 in Faridabad.
AQIs in other cities of the country where the air quality was recorded in ‘moderate’ category include Ahmedabad (141), Chennai (126), Lucknow (150), Mumbai (163), Patna (142), Pune (126), and Jaipur (134), according to the CPCB data.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
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The air quality in the national capital remained in the ‘poor’ category on Tuesday as well. The 24-hour average AQI stood at 220, improving from 263 at 4 pm on Monday.
For the first time since May, Delhi’s air quality turned ‘very poor’ on Sunday mainly due to drop in temperature and wind speed which allowed pollutants to accumulate. A few incidents of burning firecrackers were also reported on Tuesday on account of Dussehra.
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On Monday, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that eight more pollution hotspots have been identified by the government in addition to the existing 13 in the national capital and special teams will be deployed there to check pollution sources.
The government has also decided to use suppressant powder to prevent dust pollution in the city, he added.
The minister also said that the government was moving towards the implementation of the second phase of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) ahead of the festival of Diwali.
