Delhi continues to choke, experts say air-quality may worsen in coming days

According to CPCB, the situation is not set to change any sooner, while it may only get worse towards Diwali

Delhi's air quality, which had plunged to the 'very poor' category last week due to Dussehra, continues to be in the same category on Saturday, according to Ministry of Earth Science's website,  SAFAR.

City's air quality had dropped severely on Friday, recording worse pollution than what it was a day after Dussehra.

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) figures, published on Friday evening, pollution level in Delhi was 'very poor' with an AQI of 361. 

An AQI of 0-100 is considered 'Good+Satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor' and 401 to 500 'severe', as per SAFAR.

Here are the pollution figures from different corners of the city:

Place	PM2.5	PM10
R K Puram	280	218
Dwarka	315	N/A
Anand Vihar	372	587
Gurgaon	208	N/A
Noida	280	612

 

"The winds are mostly calm and directions are indefinite around Delhi due to two different western disturbances. Due to this the pollutants are not dispersing," Mahesh Palawat, director of the private weather forecasting agency Skymet told news agency IANS on Friday.

According to CPCB, the situation is not set to change anytime soon and may only worsen towards Diwali.

"There were north-westerly winds for sometime towards afternoon on Friday, apart from that the fire at lthe andfill site at Bhalaswa which was only doused yesterday evening, may have their effect over Delhi's air," said Shambhavi Shukla, researcher at CSE.