Delhi air quality plunges to ‘very poor’ category

New Delhi : The air quality in the national capital plunged to the ‘very poor’ category as the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 303 on Saturday morning, according to data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The AQI at Dhirpur with PM 2.5 was at 364, under a ‘very poor’ category.

Notably, the 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’.

However, in Pusa, the AQI recorded PM 2.5 at 215 ‘poor category’.

At Lodhi Road, the Air Quality Index with PM 2.5 concentration was at 239 under the ‘poor’ category and the PM 10 stood at 178 also under the ‘moderate’ category.

In IIT Delhi station the PM 2.5 was at 273, ‘poor’ category while the PM 10 reached 176, in ‘moderate’ category.

The AQI at the city’s Mathura Road was under ‘poor’ category with PM 2.5 at 225 and PM 10 concentration at 304 under ‘very poor’ category.

According to the forecast from the SAFAR, the air quality of the city will deteriorate further under ‘very poor’ category with PM 2.5 reaching at 303 and the PM 10 concentration at 228 under ‘poor category’ on Sunday.

The AQI of Delhi’s neighbouring cities of Noida stood at 313 and the PM 10 concentration at 361 both under ‘very poor’ category, while Gurugram’s AQI reported at 193 falling under ‘moderate’ category and the PM 10 concentration at 141.