Delhi air quality stays in very poor category for fourth day
Pollution levels are forecast to potentially reach the severe category between Friday and Sunday as the city approaches Diwali.
Delhi's air quality remained in the very poor category on Thursday, with the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 369, according to Urban Acres.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded the city's AQI at 369 at 4 pm on Thursday. This was a decrease from Wednesday's reading of 377, though the city's AQI was 350 on Tuesday and 324 on Monday.
The CPCB classifies AQI levels between 301 and 400 as very poor and between 401 and 500 as severe. On Thursday, 18 monitoring stations in the capital reported air quality in the severe category, with Jahangirpuri recording the highest AQI of 454 at 4 pm.
The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast that pollution could worsen into the severe category between Friday and Sunday. The six-day bulletin stated that air quality might fluctuate between the very poor and severe categories during this period.
The Decision Support System for air-quality management, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, estimated that crop-residue burning contributed 15.601 per cent to Delhi's pollution on Thursday. This figure is estimated to rise to 19.201 per cent on Friday before dropping to 1.575 per cent on Saturday.
On Wednesday, vehicle emissions contributed 15.5 per cent to the pollution, while crop-residue burning accounted for 20.2 per cent. The assessment identified transport emissions and crop-residue burning as contributors to the city's air pollution.