New Delhi, 25 December. The national capital Delhi has got some relief from pollution for the second consecutive day. Delhi’s air quality recorded improvement on Thursday and the Air Quality Index (AQI) dropped to 234, which falls in the ‘poor’ category.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI was recorded at 234 at 4 pm on Thursday while it was 271 at the same time a day earlier. At 4 o’clock on Tuesday, AQI was in ‘severe’ category with 412, compared to which this improvement is considered very significant.
According to official data, smoke from transport and pollution from neighboring cities still play a big role in Delhi’s pollution situation. Out of 40 air quality monitoring stations working in the city, 10 stations recorded AQI below 200 i.e. ‘moderate’ category. These include Lodhi Road, IIT Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Aya Nagar. Whereas 27 stations still remained in ‘bad’ category. The air quality was recorded as ‘very poor’ in two areas – Jahangirpuri and Bawana, where AQI remained above 300.
According to the data of the Decision Support System (DSS) created for air quality management, the biggest contribution to Delhi’s total pollution on Wednesday was from vehicle emissions, which was 18.5 percent. This was followed by industrial activities in Delhi and surrounding areas (9.5 percent), construction work (2.5 percent) and pollution caused by burning of garbage (1.6 percent).
Among the National Capital Region (NCR) districts, Jhajjar in Haryana was the biggest contributor to Delhi’s pollution, with a share of 17.6 per cent. This was followed by Rohtak (5.9 percent) and Sonipat (3.1 percent).
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System, on Thursday the surface wind blew from the north-west direction, the speed of which reached 10 kilometers per hour in the afternoon. However, according to forecast, Delhi’s air quality may again reach ‘very poor’ category in the coming days.
Meanwhile, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum temperature of Delhi was recorded at 22.6 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, which was 1.9 degrees above normal. The minimum temperature was 6.5 degrees Celsius, which is slightly below normal. Humidity was recorded at 63 percent at 8.30 am and 84 percent at 5.30 pm.
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