The air quality of Delhi, Gurugram and Nodia, which are part of the National Capital Region (NCR), deteriorated to the “very poor” category on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
The air quality of Delhi is expected to deteriorate further in the next two days, as per the government-run monitoring agency, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
The SC-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) on Friday said they are watching the situation closely as Delhi’s air quality could be in “severe” category on Saturday for some period of time. The Air Quality Index of Delhi was 366 on Friday and the values for Gurugram and Noida were 334 and 369 respectively, as per CPCB’s 4 pm bulletin, which is an average of the past 24 hours.
All three values were in the “red” category and it can cause “respiratory illness on prolonged exposure”, according to the CPCB.
The AQI of Delhi and Gurugram were in the “poor” category and Noida’s was in the lower end of “very poor” on Thursday.
Calm surface wind conditions are expected to continue over the Delhi for the next two days, which will lead to less dispersion of pollutants.
The stubble burning fire counts around Haryana, Punjab, and border regions of Delhi was 1,213 on Thursday, said SAFAR. The contribution of stubble burning in neighbouring states to PM2.5 in Delhi was estimated to be around 17% on Friday.
