Delhi’s air quality improves slightly, several areas record ‘moderate’ AQI

New Delhi, Dec 25 Delhi’s air quality recorded a noticeable improvement on Thursday morning, a day after the Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas revoked restrictions imposed under Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan, citing a sustained improvement in pollution levels.

Although the city’s overall air quality continued to remain in the ‘poor’ category with an average Air Quality Index of 221, several locations across Delhi and the National Capital Region registered better readings, falling into the ‘moderate’ category.

This marks a significant shift after weeks of ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality levels across large parts of the region.

As per the AQI classification, readings between 0 and 50 are considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

On Thursday morning, the AQI at India Gate and Kartavya Path stood at 350, while Akshardham recorded a reading of 245. Sir Aurobindo Marg saw an AQI of 159, IGI Airport reported 119, and Lodhi Road recorded 133, indicating improved air quality conditions in several key areas of the city.

Despite the improvement in pollution levels, a fog warning remains in effect for Delhi and surrounding regions during the morning hours. The India Meteorological Department has forecast a very high probability of dense to very dense fog on Thursday morning across Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, the Jammu region, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The weather agency also issued a similar warning for isolated locations in Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar, East Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, as well as Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim, indicating widespread foggy conditions across multiple states.

Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan was enforced in Delhi on December 13 after the city’s AQI plunged into the ‘severe’ category and crossed the 400 mark. Following this, pollution levels largely remained in the ‘severe’ or ‘very poor’ categories, with dense fog enveloping the city for extended periods during the day.

However, a sharp improvement was recorded on Wednesday, when Delhi’s average AQI dropped to 271 from 412 recorded at 4 p.m. the previous day. The improvement in air quality prompted the CAQM to withdraw the stringent anti-pollution measures under GRAP-IV.

Officials clarified that while Stage IV curbs have been revoked, all preventive and restrictive measures under Stages III, II and I of the existing GRAP framework will continue to remain in force to prevent a further deterioration in air quality.

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