Delhi's air quality nears severe zone as AQI hits 377, worst in 288 days

• Delhi records an AQI of 377, its worst reading in 288 days, with 22 monitoring stations reporting severe pollution.

• Air quality is expected to deteriorate further into the severe category on 6 and 7 November, with Diwali approaching.

• Satellite data detects 467 farm fires across six states on 4 November, while stubble burning accounts for 20.2 per cent of Delhi's pollution.

Delhi's air quality deteriorated sharply on Wednesday, 4 November, with the air quality index (AQI) settling at 377 in the 'very poor' category, edging closer to the severe threshold. As many as 22 monitoring stations across the capital recorded severe pollution levels.

With air quality expected to worsen further over the coming days and Diwali approaching, the national capital is bracing for another spell of hazardous pollution.

The AQI reading of 377 was the highest since 20 January, when the index stood at 378, making Wednesday's reading the worst in 288 days.

IIT Delhi recorded the highest AQI at 458, followed by Jahangirpuri and Punjabi Bagh at 448 each. Mundka registered an AQI of 439. Of the capital's 59 monitoring stations, 22 recorded 'severe' air quality, 32 fell in the 'very poor' category and five registered 'poor' air quality.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between zero and 50 is classified as 'good', 51-100 as 'satisfactory', 101-200 as 'moderate', 201-300 as 'poor', 301-400 as 'very poor' and 401-500 as 'severe'.

The air quality early warning system has forecast that Delhi's air quality will remain in the 'very poor' category on Thursday before deteriorating further to the 'severe' category between 6 and 7 November.

PM10 emerged as the dominant pollutant in Delhi on Wednesday, marking a shift from the previous three days, when PM2.5 was the primary pollutant. PM10 is generally associated with coarse particulate matter, including dust from roads and construction activities.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature at Safdarjung, Delhi's base weather station, settled at 29.8 degrees Celsius, 0.7 degrees below the seasonal normal. Palam recorded a maximum of 27.2 degrees Celsius, 3.6 degrees below normal, while Lodhi Road registered 29.6 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees below normal.

The maximum temperatures at the Ridge and Ayanagar stations stood at 28.6°C and 29.4°C, respectively, 1.3 degrees and 1.1 degrees below normal.

The minimum temperature at Safdarjung settled at 16.1°C, 0.8 degrees above normal. Palam recorded a minimum of 16.9°C, 0.7 degrees above normal, while Lodhi Road registered 16.1°C, 3.1 degrees above normal.

The Ridge recorded a minimum temperature of 16.4°C, 0.7 degrees below normal, while Ayanagar registered 16.6°C, 0.4 degrees above normal.

According to the decision support system (DSS), transport emissions contributed 15.5 per cent to Delhi's pollution on Wednesday, while stubble burning accounted for 20.2 per cent.

Other contributing sectors within Delhi included residential sources (3.8 per cent), industries (2.9 per cent), construction (2.2 per cent), waste burning (1.3 per cent), road dust (1.1 per cent) and other sectors (1 per cent).

Among the National Capital Region (NCR) districts, Ghaziabad contributed 7 per cent to the pollution load, followed by Rohtak (3.8 per cent), Gurugram (2.7 per cent), Sonipat (2.2 per cent), Jind (1.8 per cent) and Bhiwani (1.3 per cent). Other sources accounted for 28.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, satellites detected 467 farm fires across six states on 4 November. These included 151 in Punjab, 10 in Haryana, 33 in Uttar Pradesh, 111 in Rajasthan, five in Uttarakhand and 157 in Madhya Pradesh. No farm fires were detected in Delhi.

A total of 4,800 crop-residue burning incidents have been detected across seven states and Union Territories, including Delhi, between 15 September and 4 November, according to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) Laboratory of the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

Of these, 2,347 were recorded in Punjab, 62 in Haryana, 392 in Uttar Pradesh, two in Delhi, 949 in Rajasthan, 183 in Uttarakhand and 865 in Madhya Pradesh.

With PTI inputs