On Friday, Delhi’s air pollution continued to worsen, with the air quality index (AQI) rising to 293, firmly placing it in the ‘bad’ category.
Experts warn that the situation will deteriorate further, with the city’s AQI anticipated to fall into the’very poor’ zone by Sunday, as meteorological conditions remain unfavourable for pollution dispersion.
On Thursday, numerous localities registered disturbing AQI values, including Mundka at 386, Jahangirpuri at 360, and Patparganj at 350, all falling into the’very bad’ category.
“Wind turned calm during the night, causing the accumulation of pollutants,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-chairman of Skymet Meteorology.
Meanwhile, the AQI of Anand Vihar, which registered ‘severe’ pollution earlier this week, was unavailable. The Central Pollution Control Board did not respond to queries regarding the missing data.
According to the Decision Support System, stubble burning’s contribution to PM2.5 levels in Delhi was under 1% on Thursday.
However, the city’s transport sector contributed the most, at 12.25%, followed by emissions from nearby areas, including Gautam Budh Nagar and Bulandshahr. “The air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ zone during the subsequent six days from Oct 20,” the Air Quality Early Warning System warned, cautioning that conditions could worsen further due to additional emissions from crop burning.
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Source: TOI
