Delhi NCR breathless as smog covers city; 'very poor' to 'severe' AQI levels recorded in several regions

Delhi Air Pollution News: Several northern regions in the country including the Delhi NCR woke up to a dense layer of fog on Wednesday, impacting visibility in and around the national capital and leaving disrupting railway and flight operations. As many as seven flights scheduled to take off from the national capital were impacted due to low visibility recorded in and around the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. This marks the season's first dense fog around the national capital. Typically, this time of the year is characterised by dense smog blanketing the NCR owing to a number of factors including stubble burning in the adjoining areas.    

A number of flights were diverted or delayed on Wednesday morning due to the low visibility conditions in the national capital. The quality of air, gauged by the Air Quality Index (AQI), remained in the "very poor" category for about a fortnight while "severe" air quality was recorded in Anand Vihar and Aya Nagar, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

'Severe' Air Quality Index levels recorded in several parts of NCR

'Very poor' to 'severe' AQI levels were recorded in most stations located in and around the national capital region, including the neighborhoods of Anand Vihar (443), Ashok Vihar (411), North Campus (415), IGI Airport (402) and Rohini (403), showed data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. 

Poor air quality in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh

While the quality of air was recorded to be in the "poor" category in several regions spanning Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh remained in the "very poor" quality with AQI readings to the tune of 375.

Here are some readings from a few regions across the NCR, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, as of 2 pm, Wednesday: 

What do 'good', 'satisfactory', 'moderately polluted', 'poor', 'very poor' and 'severe' AQI categories indicate? 

• 0-50 - Good
• 51-100 - Satisfactory
• 101-200 - Moderate
• 201-300 - Poor
• 301-400 - Very Poor
• 401-500 - Severe

The Air Quality Index captures changes in the quality of air in a particular region over a given period factoring in several factors including the concentration of pollutants and their likely impacts on health.