Delhi air improves slightly but remains 'very poor' with AQI of 332

Arvind Kejriwal's government on Thursday said that 70 per cent of pollution in the national capital is coming from outside

Delhi's air improved on Friday but was toxic still as the state government said its citizens were "blamed unnecessarily" and most pollutants were caused by cities nearby.

The national capital's Air Quality Index (AQI) was 332 --'very poor'-- at 8 am, according to the state-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). Readings below 50 are considered safe, while anything above 300 is considered hazardous or 'severe'.

"The people of Delhi have been blamed unnecessarily... 70 per cent of this pollution is coming from outside. The Delhi government has constantly been working to reduce the pollution from Delhi. But no matter how hard the people of Delhi try, controlling 70 per cent of external pollution is out of their hands," said Gopal Rai, Environment Minister in the Aam Aadmi Party government.

Delhi's AQI levels became worse after Diwali on November 4 as people violated a ban on bursting firecrackers while the pollution compounded due to an increase in stubble burning by farmers in areas adjoining the national capital.

Meanwhile, construction activities, entry of trucks into the national capital have been banned till November 21 while its employees have been ordered to work from home till Sunday.

Delhi was the third most polluted city on the planet with an AQI of 194, said iQair, a website that tracks air pollution worldwide. The only other Indian city on the website’s list of 10 was Kolkata being the second most polluted city worldwide with an AQI of 208. 

Air pollution costs Indian businesses $95 billion or roughly 3 per cent of its GDP every year, according to U.K.-based non-profit Clean Air Fund and the Confederation of Indian Industry, Bloomberg has reported.