Delhi's air quality poor, likely to improve

New Delhi: Delhi's air quality was recorded in the poor category on Wednesday morning but it is predicted to improve as favourable wind speed is likely during the day.

The capital's average air quality index (AQI) stood at 262, worsening from 227 at 4 pm on Tuesday. It was 294 on Monday and 303 on Sunday. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 13.2 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 28 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures are predicted to drop due to winds blowing in from snow-clad mountains in the north. Delhi saw a significant improvement in the air quality over the last three days due to better wind speed and a sharp decline in farm fires in Punjab. According to data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Punjab reported 141 farm fires on Tuesday and just four on Monday. A total of 2,467 incidents of stubble burning were reported in the agrarian state on Saturday.

The share of farm fires in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution dropped from 13 percent on Monday to 3 percent on Tuesday, according to SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. In view of the improvement in the air quality, the Commission for Air Quality Management had on Monday directed authorities to revoke the curbs enforced in Delhi-NCR under stage three of the Graded Response Action Plan with immediate effect. The curbs under stage 3 included a ban on construction and demolition activities, barring essential projects.