The Central Pollution Control Board recorded Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index at 361 at 4 pm on Saturday, and by 6 pm the reading had climbed to 372, indicating a further decline in air quality.
Real-time data from the CPCB’s Sameer app shows that 15 of Delhi’s 39 monitoring stations recorded an AQI of 400 or higher at 6 pm. Stations crossing the 400 mark included Alipur (417), ITO (408), Punjabi Bagh (404), Nehru Nagar (407), Patparganj (403), Ashok Vihar (402), Sonia Vihar (401), Jahangirpuri (409), Rohini (408), Vivek Vihar (415), Narela (412), Wazirpur (424), Bawana (424), Chandni Chowk (400) and Burari Crossing (420).
Neighbouring cities in the NCR also reported troubling levels of pollution. Noida recorded an AQI of 354, Greater Noida registered 336, and Ghaziabad saw 339, all falling under the ‘very poor’ category, according to CPCB data cited by PTI.
Delhi’s AQI on Saturday morning already stood in the ‘very poor’ range, with a reading of 355 at 8 am. A day earlier, the city had recorded an AQI of 322, making it the most polluted city in the country on Friday. PM2.5 and PM10 remained the dominant pollutants.
The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast that Delhi’s pollution levels will stay in the ‘very poor’ range for the next few days.
Under CPCB standards, an AQI between 0 and 50 is rated ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.
