The air quality of Delhi and Noida was in the ‘severe’ category on Saturday and Gurugram’s was in the ‘very poor’ category, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
The national capital’s air quality is expected to improve on Sunday.
“Air quality is likely to improve only marginally by Sunday within the ‘very poor’ category owing to slightly better ventilation conditions. The AQI is likely to further improve on December 7 and 8 due to better ventilation. So, further deterioration is not expected for the next three days,” said a statement by the government-run monitoring agency SAFAR.
The wind speed remained slow allowing the accumulation of pollutants generated locally, V.K. Soni, head of the IMD’s environment research centre said.
“Easterly winds carrying moisture also led to the formation of secondary particulate matter. All these factors together pushed the air quality in the ‘severe’ zone,” he said. However, Mr. Soni said, the air quality is likely to improve to the “poor” category by Monday.
The contribution of stubble burning in neighbouring States to PM2.5, a chief pollutant, level in Delhi was estimated to be only 1% on Saturday. Also, the number of fire count in neighbouring States was only 296, as per SAFAR.
