Delhi air quality improves marginally, still ‘very poor’

Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 377 at 4 pm on Sunday, when the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issues its daily national bulletin.

As wind speeds picked up briefly, Delhi’s air quality improved marginally on Sunday, bringing it down from the ‘severe’ down to the ‘very poor’.

Forecasts show Delhi’s air quality is now likely to stay ‘very poor’ till at least December 24 (HT photo)

Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 377 at 4 pm on Sunday, when the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issues its daily national bulletin. It was 398 (very poor) at 4 pm on Saturday, with the AQI crossing 400 by the evening as a thick layer of fog – combined with high polluted created smog in the region.

Experts attributed this to a marginal increase in wind speed. “Winds, though not picking up significantly, were consistent at around 5-7 km/hr on Sunday morning which helped reduce fog intensity and also created some dispersion,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet.

Forecasts show Delhi’s air quality is now likely to stay ‘very poor’ till at least December 24. It may subsequently deteriorate to ‘severe’ before New Year’s eve.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 22 till December 24. The outlook for the subsequent six days – from December 25 onwards shows the AQI is likely to be between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’,” said the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi – a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences.

To be sure, the EWS had forecast ‘severe’ air in Delhi on both Sunday and Monday. HT had reported earlier how the EWS has missed its mark multiple times this season, including its forecasts for December 13 and 15, when it had forecast ‘very poor’ air. On both days, Delhi’s AQI was severe. Overall, Delhi has recorded six ‘severe’ air days this year.

Meanwhile, political parties continued the blame game. Aam Aadmi Party Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the fact that more than one lakh PUC applications were issued in just three days is proof of the complete failure of the BJP government and its agencies to enforce basic environmental and traffic regulations in the national capital.

“This is not an achievement. It is proof that lakhs of vehicles were already plying illegally on Delhi roads for months, unchecked, unchallaned and unnoticed,” he said in a post on X. AAP also released a ‘pollution song’, which showed Superman, Spiderman and Batman falling ill due to pollution.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit back. “What the people of Delhi are suffering today is the result of the negligence of Arvind Kejriwal’s governments in Delhi and Punjab. It is unfortunate that when Kejriwal and Saurabh were in power, their government failed to control the factors causing pollution, and now that they are in the opposition, they are making frivolous and ridiculous remarks,” he said.

On the same day, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) shared data on air pollution and said it took stringent action against biomass burning and illegal dumping of construction and demolition (C&D) waste – issuing challans worth ₹54.98 lakh against violators this month. During enforcement drives conducted across all zones of Delhi to check illegal dumping of C&D waste and other activities contributing to air pollution, a total of 7,023 challans were issued, amounting to ₹43.26 lakh, the MCD said. Meanwhile, for open burning of waste, 420 challans were issued – resulting in fines of about ₹11.72 lakh.