Delhi’s air quality on Wednesday turned ‘severe’ for the first time this season, with the Air Quality Index soaring to 418.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 30 of the 36 monitoring stations in Delhi reported air quality in the ‘severe’ category. On Tuesday, the national capital’s 24-hour average AQI recorded at 4 pm every day, stood at 334 on Tuesday.
The CPCB classifies AQI between 0-50 as “good”, 51 and 100 as “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 as “moderate”, 201 and 300 as “poor”, 301 and 400 as “very poor”, and over 400 as “severe”.
At 9 am on Wednesday, the air quality was ‘very poor’ with a reading of 366. A “dense fog” blanketed Delhi, dipping visibility to zero at the Delhi airport even as calm winds prevailed across the region.
The IMD said the city’s temperature dropped to 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday morning from 17.9C on Tuesday. It warned that the temperature may fall further as sunlight remains cut off due to the smog.
Delhi battles severe pollution every winter as cold, heavy air traps dust, emissions, and smoke from farm fires set off illegally in the adjoining, farming states of Punjab and Haryana.
Earlier today, the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) urged the Delhi government to urgently close all schools up to Class 5 in view of the deteriorating air quality in the city.
The party also criticised the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for allowing the city to devolve into a gas chamber.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that both private and government schools should be shut down for the safety of children, given the alarming level of air pollution in the national capital and its adjoining regions.