Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 187 on Sunday, the city’s highest reading in 83 days, placing overall pollution levels in the Central Pollution Control Board’s moderate category and pushing 16 monitoring stations into the poor category.
The city’s air quality had last reached a higher level on July 13, when Delhi recorded an AQI of 246. Data available on the Sameer app showed that Mundka recorded the highest AQI among Delhi’s monitoring stations at 273, followed by Narela at 257.
Twenty-six monitoring stations recorded air quality in the moderate category, while Burari was the only station to report satisfactory air quality. The CPCB classifies AQI readings from zero to 50 as good, 51 to 100 as satisfactory, 101 to 200 as moderate, 201 to 300 as poor, 301 to 400 as very poor and 401 to 500 as severe.
The deterioration came alongside above-normal temperatures. Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 36.4 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, 2.2 degrees above normal, while the minimum temperature stood at 24.1 degrees Celsius, 1.8 degrees above normal. Ayanagar recorded the city’s highest maximum temperature at 37 degrees Celsius, followed by Safdarjung at 36.4 degrees, Lodi Road at 36.3 degrees, Ridge at 35.8 degrees and Palam at 34.6 degrees.
Safdarjung recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 24.1 degrees Celsius among the listed stations. Lodi Road recorded 23.2 degrees, Ayanagar 22.8 degrees, Palam 22.4 degrees and Ridge 21 degrees. Relative humidity in the city was recorded at 51 per cent at 5.30 pm.
Data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute showed that 203 stubble-burning incidents were recorded across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh between September 15 and October 3. On October 3, Punjab reported one incident, while Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh recorded 12 and 15 incidents, respectively.
Delhi recorded one stubble-burning incident during the period, on September 19, marking its first such incident of the season, according to the data. The figures indicate that local and regional sources were being tracked as the city’s air quality worsened, although the supplied report does not attribute the AQI rise to any single source.
The India Meteorological Department forecast a clear sky for Delhi on Monday, with the maximum temperature expected to remain around 36 degrees Celsius and the minimum around 24 degrees Celsius.