Highlights
- Delhi's AQI stood at 321 and continued to remain in the very poor category
- AQI in Gurugram was recorded at 326 and remained in the very poor category
- Noida registered very poor air quality with an AQI of 354
Delhi Air Quality: Delhi woke up to a hazy morning on Tuesday with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 321 and continued to remain in the 'very poor' category, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
The National Capital Region (NCR) also continued to witness smog with Noida registering very poor air quality with an AQI of 354 while Gurugram's AQI stood at 326 and continued to remain in the 'very poor' category too. Delhi recorded 147 in the 'very poor' category and 275 in the 'poor' category at 2 PM and 10 PM respectively.
Meanwhile, Pusa recorded AQI of 322 while Dhirpur recorded an AQI of 339. Lodhi Road recorded 317, Delhi Airport (T3) recorded an AQI of 323 and Mathura road recorded an AQI of 338. The AQI at Delhi University stood at 336 while that at IIT Delhi stood at 293 in 'poor category.' Ayanagar also was in the 'very poor' category at 330 at 8:45 am on Tuesday.
Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.
Just a day earlier, the Delhi government lifted various bans, imposed earlier, including the ban on the entry of trucks into the national capital after registering improvement in the air quality. The Delhi government also revoked directions for the closure of schools and work from home for 50 percent of staff in government offices.The directions were issued in view of the Central government's panel Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to revoke the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 4 after the national capital's air quality turned 'severe' last week.
However, the curbs on BS III petrol vehicles and BS IV diesel vehicles will still continue in Delhi. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the ban was imposed under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP); and that it won't be lifted yet. On Sunday, in view of the improvement in the overall air quality of the Delhi-NCR in the past few days, a Central government panel revoked the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 4. But a ban on non-essential construction activities which come under GRAP-3 now in force would continue.
(With inputs from ANI)
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