Delhi air quality sees slight improvement after rainfall

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research, the air quality of Delhi shifted to 'very poor' from the 'severe' category

New Delhi: The air pollution in the National Capital improved slightly on Tuesday morning following light rainfall in several parts of the Delhi-National Capital Region a day ago.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR-India), the air quality of Delhi shifted to ‘very poor’ from the ‘severe’ category, with an AQI of 354, which is marginally down from 400 at 9 am on Monday.

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Light rains lashed several parts of Delhi-NCR on Monday, bringing respite to citizens breathing high levels of air pollution over the last two weeks.

According to the official data recorded at 7:00 am on Tuesday, an AQI of 374 (very poor) was recorded at Anand Vihar. Similarly, Ashok Vihar recorded severe air quality with an AQI of 402.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board, ITO recorded 436 (very severe), while Dwarka Sector 8 recorded 376 (very poor), and IGI airport (T3) logged an AQI of 351 (very poor).

Speaking on the weather change, Vipin Kumar, a resident of Lodhi Road, said, “Morning walk would feel good today. The weather is good today. Rainfall has cleared the weather a lot…” Uday Pratap Singh, another local, said, “There is some relief from toxic air after rainfall . There was a lot of pollution earlier but with the rain, it is better now. It feels good …” The air quality index from 0 to 100 is considered ‘good’, 100 to 200 ‘moderate’, 200 to 300 ‘poor’, 300 to 400 ‘very poor’ and from 400 to 500 or above ‘severe’.

The recent surge in AQI levels followed the lifting of several restrictions by the Centre last Saturday, which included the allowance of construction activities and the entry of polluting trucks into Delhi.

Restrictions under stages 1 to 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), however, remained in place.