Delhi air quality drops to ‘severe’ as cold wave grips city

According to data released on Sunday by the Central Pollution Control Board, the air quality on the last day of the year dropped to the “severe” category as the cold wave continued to encircle northern India. Munirka, Dwarka, and RK Puram are just a few of the Delhi locations where the Air Quality Index was recorded as being higher than 400. The AQI values in Anand Vihar, Dwarka-Sector 8, RK Puram, and Munirka were 425, 426, 431, and 425 points, respectively. Due to the declining air quality in the Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) issued orders earlier this month to prohibit non-essential construction work and the operation of BS-III gasoline and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers.

However, certain exemptions have been granted for construction work related to national security or defence, projects of national importance, healthcare, railways, metro rail, airports, interstate bus terminals, highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines, sanitation, and water supply.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, the city’s primary weather station, was recorded at 11 degrees Celsius on Sunday morning.
Drone visuals from Delhi’s ITO, Subroto Park, and India Gate areas showed dense fog enveloping the city reducing visibility.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast dense to very dense fog at most places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi, at many places over Uttar Pradesh, at a few places over Uttarakhand, at isolated places over the northern parts of Rajasthan and dense fog at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir and the lower division of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.