NEW DELHI: Ending days of severe air pollution, Delhi air improved from “very poor” to the “poor” category on Wednesday owing to favourable wind speed at night, sporadic rains in adjoining states and a considerable drop in emissions from stubble burning.
The 24-hour average AQI calculated at 260 by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) which is a drop of 112 points from 372 noted on Tuesday. In fact, it was the lowest since Diwali festivity when the AQI was 259 on October 23, official data showed.
The improvement in air quality was evident from better visibility levels with 1,400 metres at the Palam airport and 1,500 at the Safdarjung airport in the morning, regional air quality forecasting body stated.
According to it, a smoky haze had lowered the visibility levels to 800 metres at these places on Tuesday.
Even though the farm fires in Punjab increased from 605 (Tuesday) to 1,778 (Wednesday), their share in Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution dropped to 5% from 9% recorded on Tuesday, according to data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and SAFAR.
A senior scientist from India Meteorological Department (IMD) said sporadic rains in parts of Rajasthan and Haryana and winds gusting up to 30 kmph reduced the share of pollutants from these adjoining areas in Delhi’s pollution The Commission for Air Quality Management may also convene a meeting on Thursday to review the situation and revoke the curbs in Delhi-NCR under stage 3 (very poor air quality) of the Graded Response Action Plan. While primary schools have reopened, BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers were asked to stay off roads.
