India weather: Delhi air quality falls to 'severe' category after slightly improving; rains may bring relief

Athick layer of smog on Monday (Nov 27) led todeterioration of air quality of Indian capital Delhi. There was earlier a slight improvement with Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday at 389 in the “very poor” category as compared to 414 in the “severe” category on Friday.

On Monday, it came back to severe category, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which said RK Puram recorded an AQI of 419 at 7:00 am local time.

Other areas also recorded AQI in the severe category with ITO at 435, Dwarka Sector 8 at 402, Jahangirpuri at 437 and Ashok Vihar at 455.

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AQI dipsin the capital, rains likely to bring relief

Rains are expected in the coming days, which might bring in some relief to the national capital.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted improvement in conditions under the influence of a western disturbance affecting northwest India starting Sunday.

There is also the possibility of rain in Delhi and nearby areas that will likely curb pollution in the city.

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Though the capital city’s air quality showed slight improvement from skyrocketing pollution levels in recent days, there has been no complete relief from it.

The recent surge in AQI levels can be attributed to the lifting of several restrictions by the Centre last Saturday. It provides allowance for construction activities and the entry of trucks into Delhi from other states.

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

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Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai conducted a meeting on Friday in the wake of increasing pollution in the city.

"Some increase in the pollution of Delhi has been noted. We had a meeting regarding it. The incidents of stubble burning are very few now, and the level of pollution is still increasing. Scientists reported 2-3 factors for this. The first is that vehicle pollution's contribution is 36 per cent. The second factor is biomass burning. We made some major decisions after seeing this, Gopal Rai said.

(With inputs from agencies)