Thick layer of smog shrouds Delhi, AQI remains in 'very poor' category

A thick layer of smog has surrounded parts of the national capital on Friday morning as Delhi's air quality remained in the lower end of the 'very poor' category with an overall AQI of 324

A thick layer of smog has surrounded parts of the national capital on Friday morning as Delhi's air quality remained in the lower end of the 'very poor' category with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 324, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

On Wednesday morning, the overall AQI of the city stood at 303.

The National Capital Region (NCR) also continued to witness bad air as Noida and Gurugram also registered "very poor" air quality with an AQI of 371 and 349 respectively.

The level of PM 2.5 and PM 10 was recorded at 178 in the 'very poor' category and 303 in the 'poor' category respectively in Delhi.

AQI recorded at all major monitoring stations in the national capital also stood in the 'very poor' category.

Pusa recorded an AQI of 331 while Dhirpur recorded an AQI of 349. Lodhi Road recorded 316, Delhi Airport (T3) recorded an AQI of 347 and Mathura road recorded an AQI of 332. The AQI at Delhi University stood at 352 while IIT Delhi stood at 259 in 'poor category.' Ayanagar also was at the lower end of the 'poor' category at 313 at 10:37 am on Friday.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

Amid the thick layer of smog blanketing the national capital, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has issued a passenger advisory due to low visibility.

"Low Visibility Procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are presently normal. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information," the Delhi Airport tweeted.

According to the Indian India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperature is expected to remain around 16 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature is likely to be 29 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost the joint and augmented approach towards prevention, control and abatement of the menace of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has decided to tap the technical or academic expertise of the reputed scientific institutions working in the field of air pollution.

As per the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, seven proposals have been approved by the Commission after detailed technical and financial evaluation and appraisal.