Air quality in Delhi remains in 'very poor' category with AQI at 301

The air quality in the national capital here remained in the 'very poor' category with AQI recorded at 301 on Monday.

The areas near Delhi university saw an AQI of 314. As the mercury dropped in the national capital the smog levels increased. In the NCR region, the air quality peaked in Noida with an AQI of 351. The AQI in Gurugram was recorded at 156.

On December 7, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) decided to revoke Stage III of the GRAP in the entire NCR immediately after the overall air quality in Delhi improved.

The CAQM, a Union government panel that recommends steps to control air pollution in the national capital, chaired a meeting to review the air quality in Delhi-NCR on December 7. It put out a release saying, "As the AQI in Delhi has slipped into the 'severe' category, the sub-committee had decided that all actions, as envisaged under Stage III of the GRAP, be implemented in right earnest by all the agencies concerned, with immediate effect in the NCR, in addition to all action under Stage I and Stage II of the GRAP

On December 4, the CAQM announced a temporary ban on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR as part of its Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). The announcement came after the air quality in Delhi and the national capital region breached the 'severe' category.

On December 4, the CAQM temporarily banned construction activities, "with the exception of Metro Rail services, including stations; airport and inter-state bus terminals; railway services/stations; national security/defence-related activities/ projects of national importance; hospitals/healthcare facilities; linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines; sanitation projects like sewage treatment plants and water supply projects; ancillary activities specific to and supplementing above categories of projects".category.

The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.