New Delhi: Delhiites on Thursday morning breathed a sigh of relief as the air quality improved to the ‘moderate’ category, after being in the ‘poor’ band for several days.
The sudden decrease in air pollution came due to heavy rains which lashed parts of Delhi NCR early on Thursday and also led to a dip in temperature.
“Last time the air quality was in moderate category was on October 19 and after that it had only worsened. The air quality improved due to light showers in parts of Delhi and strong winds on Wednesday,” said V.K. Shukla, head of air quality management at Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
At 9 am on Thursday morning, the major pollutant PM 2.5 was at 82 in Sector 125, Noida. The AQI at Sriniwaspuri was also in the 'moderate' category at 149. The air quality at Punjabi Bagh (85), Vasundhara, Ghaziabad (104), Mandir Marg (68), Vikas Sadan, Gurugram (65), RK Puram (76), US Embassy, Chanakyapuri (80, Bawana (95) and Okhla (89) also remained at 184 in the same category, according to the data by the Central Pollution Control Board
On Wednesday, the city received moderate to heavy rainfall after which the air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 158 at 9.45 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. It was 175 at 7.45 am. An AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500 ‘severe’. An AQI above 500 falls in the ‘severe plus’ category.
The Supreme Court had on Monday asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to file a report on the impact on pollution due to industries running in Delhi-NCR to ascertain whether there is a need to re-locate them.
The apex court had also directed the Delhi government to apprise it of the kind of factories that are operational in the national capital.
The counsel appearing for the Delhi government told the top court that no polluting industries are operational here. "Which are the industries which are running in Delhi? What is the impact on pollution?," a bench of justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta said.
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