Air quality in Delhi marginally improved on Friday morning but remained in the 'very poor' category for the seventh straight day. Wazirpur was the most polluted area in the national capital with an AQI in the 'severe' category of 442.
A thick Delhi smog again enveloped the city as residents complained of breathing difficulties with the overall AQI at 373 on Friday morning. Although it is an improvement from the day before, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data indicated the air quality was still far from being healthy.
As per the readings on the CPCB's Sameer app, out of the 39 monitoring stations in Delhi, 13 of them reported AQI very poor in the 'severe' category on Friday morning with Wazirpur recording the poor AQI of 442.
As numerous as 11 Delhi pollution hotspots in the megacity continued to record ' severe' figures Anand Vihar( 412), Bawana( 430), Burari Crossing( 404), Jahangirpuri( 433), Mundka( 435), Narela( 408), RK Puram( 406) and Rohini( 421).
On Thursday, the AQI was at 391, on Wednesday it was at 392 and on Tuesday it was 374, all of which are in the ' very poor' order and close to the ' severe' order. This is grounded on CPCB numbers.
On Thursday, as per the estimates of the Decision Support System (DSS) of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, contributions to Delhi's pollution levels came from vehicle emissions at 17.3 per cent and toxic haze at 2.8 per cent.
Ghaziabad Most Polluted in NCR, Temperature Drops in Delhi
In the National Capital Region (NCR), the most polluted city was Ghaziabad with an AQI of 431 in the 'severe' category, while the least polluted city in the NCR was Faridabad with 'poor' AQI level of 242. Gurugram followed with an AQI in the 'poor' category at 294.
Noida's air quality also neared the 'severe' category at 400, while Greater Noida recorded 'very air quality crisis at 377.
The minimum temperature in the city dropped to 11.4 degrees Celsius, which is nearly a degree below normal, while the maximum temperature settled at 28.2 degrees Celsius, slightly above the normal range as per India Meteorological Department (IMD).