After five consecutive days of choking on toxic air, the national capital on Sunday finally saw an improvement in the Air Quality Index (AQI) which moved from’Severe’ to ‘Very poor’ category with the overall AQI of 365.
The AQI of Delhi’s famous Chandni Chowk also improved as the concentration of PM 10 pollutants was reduced to 256. The AQI of Lodhi Road was 254 while that of Mathura Road was recorded as 304. The air in Noida was in the ‘poor’ category with PM10 pollutants at 299. Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh had an AQI of 175.
The spike in air pollution in the national capital is primarily due to insufficient rainfall and low wind speed. A day after Diwali, the national capital turned into a apocalyptic city, as lack of breeze trapped the pollutants from firecrackers and stubble burning in neighbouring states added to the woes.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal triggered criticism over not extending the Odd-Even rule in the national capital. “We do not want people to undergo unnecessary inconvenience,” Arvind Kejriwal had said at a press conference in Delhi on Friday
