Delhi Pollution: City records ‘moderate’ air quality

Delhi Pollution: Delhiites woke up to cleaner skies for the third consecutive day as the city’s air quality remained in the ‘moderate’ category on Friday.

At 9 am, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 187, slightly higher than Thursday morning’s reading of 161, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

Out of the 38 monitoring stations that recorded air quality data, 14 reported levels in the ‘poor’ category, while the rest remained in the ‘moderate’ category, as per CPCB data.

Also read: Delhi Pollution: SC allows CAQM to relax GRAP-4 curbs as AQI improves

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’.

The city’s minimum temperature settled 1 degree below normal at 8.5 degrees Celsius for the second consecutive day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Delhi recorded its coldest night of the season on Wednesday, with the temperature dropping to 8.5 degrees Celsius, marking Thursday as the coldest day so far.

The IMD has forecast mainly shallow fog for the day, with the maximum temperature expected to hover around 27 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Supreme Court allowed the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to relax the stringent GRAP-4 (Graded Response Action Plan) curbs to stage 2 to deal with air pollution in the national capital region in view of improvement in the AQI levels.

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A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih suggested the CAQM to include some additional measures of GRAP-3 in stage-2 curbs.

The bench told the CAQM that stage 3 curbs would be introduced if AQI (air quality index) crossed the 350 mark and stage-4 curbs if AQI crossed 400.

The top court noted the AQI level in NCR did not cross 300 in the last four days.