Air quality in Delhi 'hazardous', likely to worsen on Diwali

New Delhi : Diwali day started for Delhi on a 'hazardous' air quality mark, entire air quality index of NCR reason has dropped massively, with Noida topping the chart at 526. Delhi’s Pusa road recorded 505 and all this is without cracker so far.

The air quality had touched very poor mark in the early morning hours. Authorities believe that the air quality will drop even more in coming days despite ban on crackers.

At 8 am, Delhi's air quality index (AQI) stood at 341, up from 314, recorded at 4 pm on Wednesday. The 24-hour average AQI was 303 on Tuesday and 281 on Monday.

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'.

While SAFAR said air quality may become 'severe' on November 5 and 6 if firecrackers are burnt, an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said model predictions do not indicate the AQI reaching the 'severe' category "even with higher emissions".

Since the wind direction is changing to northwest carrying smoke of Punjab farm fields to the national capital, the air quality is likely to drop further.

Last year, the share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution had peaked at 42 per cent on November 5. In 2019, crop residue burning accounted for 44 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution on November 1.