Pollution dips further as Delhi receives traces of rain

Pollution levels dipped further on Friday as traces of rain hit some parts of Delhi. Met experts at the regional weather forecasting centre said the city could receive another spell of drizzle on Saturday.

Pollution levels dipped further on Friday as traces of rain hit some parts of Delhi. Met experts at the regional weather forecasting centre said the city could receive another spell of drizzle on Saturday.

The average Air Quality Index of Delhi, which was 363 on Thursday, dropped to 310 on Friday. An AQI value between 301 and 400 is considered as ‘very poor’ category of pollution. (Sushil Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“Isolated parts of Delhi received traces of rain on Friday. We are expecting more such drizzles in some parts of the city on Saturday too,” said an official of the met department.

A western disturbance had triggered rain in most of the states in north-west India on Wednesday. Delhi, however, didn’t receive any rain.

On Friday, another western disturbance – second in the season – triggered rain in Delhi. Delhi usually receives around four such western disturbances in November.

The average Air Quality Index of Delhi, which was 363 on Thursday, dropped to 310 on Friday. An AQI value between 301 and 400 is considered as ‘very poor’ category of pollution.

“The first ever implementation of GRAP has resulted in up to 15% - 20% reduction in pollution according to SAFAR,” Bhure Lal, chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed panel, wrote in a letter to the state government on Friday.

Levels of particulate matter dropped throughout the day in Delhi-NCR after registering a marginal increase on Thursday.

“While PM10 levels have dropped to moderate category, PM2.5 levels were still in the very poor category,” said D Saha, head of the air quality monitoring laboratory at CPCB.

SAFAR, India’s official pollution forecasting system under the ministry of earth sciences, has however forecasted that pollution levels could go up over the next two days.