Delhi Air Pollution Update: Air quality improves to 'moderate' category, AQI drops to 283

Ahead of Diwali, Delhi's air quality saw a slight improvement in the air quality amid rising pollution. The Air Quality Index recorded 283 against 306 a day earlier. The city was reeling under the ‘very poor’ and red category in the past few days. Reportedly, Chandni Chowk recorded the lowest AQI. 

The national capital has been shrouded in smog as the pollution rose over the last few days. However, the city is now in the orange category, a slight relief amid growing concern about the air quality. In the morning, Alipur recorded  AQI at 310, Anand Vihar at 390, Bawana at 314, Burari at 318, Jahangirpuri at 321, Rohini at 310, Dwarka at 319, while the lowest is 187 in Chandni Chowk area as per reports.

A day ago, the air quality in the national capital witnessed a drop due to increased wind speeds. Even as the AQI remained in the ‘very poor’ category, the blowing wind dispersed pollutants and plummeted AQI to 306. Regions including Dwarka, Rohini, Patparganj, Sonia Vihar, Wazirpur, Alipur, Ashok Vihar, Anand Vihar, IGI Airport (T3), Mundka,  Aya Nagar, Burari, Mandir Marg, and others however, remained in the red category. For the unversed, AQI is categorised into six distinct levels–The 0-50 level falls under 'Good,' 51-100 as 'Satisfactory,' 101-200 as 'Moderate,' 201-300 as 'Poor,' 301-400 as 'Very Poor,' and 401-500 as 'Severe.’ category. 

On Thursday, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena also held a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority. It has been decided that dust removal and mitigation on a mission mode will be the focus area. It was also been said that the timings of government offices may be changed in the implementation of anti-pollution measures. In response to rising AQI, the authorities had imposed the Graded Response Action Plan Stage II in the city.