Delhi air quality ‘moderate’ with 197 AQI; 27 monitoring stations record ‘poor’

Air quality in Delhi remained in the ‘moderate’ category with an AQI of 197 on Tuesday, while 27 out of 55 monitoring stations recorded ‘poor’ quality, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The city’s AQI stood at 174 on Monday and 153 on Sunday.

Of the 55 air quality monitoring stations in the city, 27 recorded poor air quality today, while Ghogha recorded satisfactory air quality. The remaining stations recorded moderate air quality. Jahangirpuri recorded the highest AQI at 280.

According to the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi, transport was the largest contributor to the city’s pollution at 21.3 per cent, followed by residential sources at 5.4 per cent and industries in Delhi and its periphery at 4.8 per cent.

Construction contributed 3 per cent, energy sources 2.1 per cent, waste burning 2 per cent, road dust 1.5 per cent and other sectors 1.4 per cent, the data showed.

Among neighbouring NCR districts, Sonipat was the largest contributor at 7.7 per cent, followed by Panipat at 5.7 per cent, Baghpat at 3.6 per cent, and Muzaffarnagar and Jhajjar at 3.3 per cent each. Karnal and Ghaziabad contributed 2.2 per cent each, Gurugram 1.3 per cent and Gautam Buddh Nagar 0.8 per cent.

Stubble burning contributed 1.5 per cent to Delhi’s pollution, while other sources accounted for 23.3 per cent, according to the Decision Support System.

The Air Quality Early Warning System said that the city’s air quality is likely to remain in the moderate category on Tuesday before deteriorating to the poor category on Wednesday.

It is expected to improve to the moderate category from October 29 to 30, the forecast said. The outlook for the subsequent six days indicates that the AQI is likely to remain in the moderate to poor category.

A ventilation index below 6,000 square metres per second, coupled with average wind speeds of less than 10 kmph, was unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants, it added.

Meanwhile, satellites detected 203 farm fire incidents across six states on October 26, according to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. These included 103 incidents in Punjab, 49 in Rajasthan, 20 in Uttar Pradesh, 18 in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Uttarakhand and two in Haryana. No incidents were detected in Delhi.

A total of 2,138 farm fire incidents were detected across the six states between September 15 and October 26, including 684 in Punjab, 487 in Rajasthan, 306 in Uttar Pradesh, 486 in Madhya Pradesh, 21 in Haryana, two in Delhi and 152 in Uttarakhand, the data showed.

According to CPCB standards, an AQI of zero to 50 is classified as good, 51 to 100 as satisfactory, 101 to 200 as moderate, 201 to 300 as poor, 301 to 400 as very poor, and 401 to 500 as severe.