Day after unusual dust storm, Delhi's air quality remains ‘very poor'

Delhi experienced dusty winds blowing at speeds of up to 50 kmph in the noon, leading to continual dispersion of dust over the entire city on Tuesday.

A day after strong winds swept Delhi resulting in a thick blanket of haze over the city, the national capital continues to grapple with the choking effects of alarming pollution levels even on Wednesday.

A Layer of Dust surrounds Delhi Tuesday. (HT Photo/Sanchit Khanna)

The air quality index mapped early morning showed places across Delhi facing ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ category pollution levels at over 300, including Rohini, Pusa, Patparganj, Wazirpur, Anand Vihar among others.

A pollution level of 469 was recorded at Jahangirpuri this morning, while 352 in Ashok Vihar. The air quality index was noted 418 in Wazirpur, 472 in Rohini, 519 in Mundka, 582 in Bawana, 448 in Narela, 360 in Anand Vihar and 437 in Pusa, 385 in Sonia Vihar, 362 in Alipur, 382 in Shahdra.

‘Poor’ air quality was detected in other areas including in Najafgarh, R.K. Puram, Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Dwarka and Sriniwaspuri among other areas where the quality remained between 201-300.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). classifies an AQI between 0-50 as ‘good’, between 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’ and over 400 as ‘severe’.

With Delhi witnessing an overall ‘poor’ air quality, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) termed the Tuesday's phenomenon as an “exceptional episodic event”. As per the India Meteorological Department's report, dusty winds blowing at speeds of up to 50 kmph breezed through the national capital between 3 am and 6 am, leading to continual dispersion of dust over the entire Delhi-NCR.